Third Year Rumble
by Amity33
Summary: What do you do when a favorite manga doesn't end the way you want it to? Why, write up your own ending of course! Or better yet - a continuation. Although it doesn't look like it, it is an M-rated story, or will be eventually.
1. Chapter 1 The Party

**Disclaimer: **The rights of the 'School Rumble' characters belong to Kobayashi Jin-sensei and their rightful copyright holders. I do not claim to own any of these characters. No profit is made out of this story.

**Author's note:** School Rumble is one of my all-time favorite manga series, but like many other fans, the end left me largely disappointed; it was completely haphazard, no closure, no nothing. So I thought up an ending of my own, and from scene to scene it evolved into an entire sequel. I sat on this story for a long time, but I finally think it is time to put it in writing.

This will be a work of many chapters – I'm not sure how many yet – so I ask in advance for your patience. As always, thank you for reading, and looking forward to your reviews.

**Chapter 1 note: **The story kicks off at the end of chapter 281 of the last volume of the original manga (that's where the story ended as far as I'm concerned). Tenma has left for America, Harima is engaged to Eri but has gone to live with Yakumo. While he's working on his manga, Eri comes over to ask him to escort her to a party, and this is the beginning of the…

**THIRD YEAR RUMBLE**

**Chapter 1 – The Party**

"Like I said…_why _do I have to go to the stupid party with you?"

Harima's deep, irritated voice resounded inside the wood-paneled room of the old, Japanese-style house. The proud blond girl standing in front of him cast him an annoyed look. That Hige…why did he always have to make everything so difficult?

"As my fiancé, you are supposed to escort me to these kinds of things. It's not like I _want _to drag you around with me." She looked straight at him, her amber eyes shining defiantly. "_You _are the one who told me I can depend on you. Was I wrong to take you at your word?"

Harima's black eyes glinted dangerously. "I don't go back on my word, Ojou," he said, his voice shaking slightly with restrained anger. Then he sighed, resigning himself to the inevitable. "All right, I'll go and get dressed. You wait here."

"As if I'd ever want to follow you!" shouted Eri, blushing furiously. Harima did not deign to give her an answer, just turned around and stalked out of the room.

Eri turned her attention to Yakumo and Sarah, who had been watching them silently all the while. "I'm sorry for barging in like that, Yakumo," she said apologetically. "It is absolutely necessary that he comes with me tonight, otherwise I would never impose on you."

"It is quite all right, Sawachika-senpai. I know that Harima-san has certain obligations, being your fiancé," replied Yakumo with her usual calmness.

Eri directed a glance at the unfinished manga draft Harima and Yakumo were working on when she intruded on them. She asked hesitantly, "Will he have enough time to finish this? I wouldn't want Hige to miss his deadline because of me…"

"There is still plenty of time," Yakumo assured her. "Harima-san can afford to take one night off. He has been working very hard ever since…" Her voice trailed off.

Eri nodded. She knew what Yakumo was referring to, the departure of her sister Tenma to America. Harima had been hopelessly in love with her for two whole years, but his feelings never got through to her, because she in turn was in love with another man. In a final display of self-sacrifice, he had sent her off with his own two hands to America, to be reunited with her beloved, leaving him behind alone and bereft of hope. Eri and Yakumo had helped him pick up the pieces of his broken heart and move on; but they both knew the wound was still far from healed. It would take a lot more time for Harima Kenji to become whole once again.

"Alright, I'm ready," Harima's voice sounded behind them. Eri turned to look at him, and immediately flushed with anger again. Was he making fun of her or what? When he left, he was wearing sweatpants and a faded T-shirt; now he wore jeans, a slightly less faded T-shirt, and a leather jacket. "What the hell do you think you're wearing?"

"What? These are my best clothes, you know. I wear them when I go to the editor's and everything."

"This is a CEO's party we're talking about! Do you really expect me to show up with you looking like this?" Eri exclaimed, livid.

"Well then, what would you have me do, Ojou?" Harima shouted back. "Do I look like a guy who keeps tuxedos in his closet to you?"

A polite cough behind them defused a situation that was getting rapidly out of control. It was Eri's impeccable and devoted butler, Nakamura, who had been standing discreetly in the doorway for a while now. "Excuse me, Ojou-sama."

"Yes, Nakamura, what is it?" asked Eri irritably. She disliked being interrupted before having the chance to give Hige the tongue-lashing he deserved.

"I anticipated that Harima-sama might not have appropriate clothes for the occasion, so I took the liberty of preparing something suitable for him. If you would come with us to the mansion, Harima-sama," he bowed respectfully to Harima now, "you could change there, and after the party, put your own clothes back on before I drive you home."

"Oh, thank you, Nakamura, you're a life-saver," Eri sighed with relief before Harima had the chance to say anything. She reached out and grabbed Harima from his jacket lapel, dragging him out behind her. "You, get in the car already. We don't have much time, it's already six and the party starts at eight-thirty."

"I'm coming, there's no need for you to strangle me! Imouto-san, Sarah-chan" he turned to the two girls, "I'm not sure what time I'll be returning home, so make sure you lock the door, and don't let anyone you don't know in, okay?" he instructed them with utmost seriousness.

The girls nodded, and Sarah said reassuringly, "No worries, Harima-senpai. I'll take care of Yakumo, you just go and enjoy yourself!"

Harima let out a groan indicating that he didn't believe he would enjoy himself at all, but before he could answer, Eri had shoved him inside the car, and Nakamura drove off at full speed.

"Well, there he goes, Yakumo," Sarah said, turning to her best friend. "Are you sure it's all right to let him go with Sawachika-senpai just like that?"

Yakumo shrugged noncommittally. "Harima-san is engaged to Sawachika-senpai. I have no right to stop him from going out with her," she said quietly.

Sarah let out a sigh. "I really don't understand you sometimes. If Inaba-san was here, she would tell you that you'll never take your relationship with Harima-senpai to the next level if you keep acting like this."

Yakumo stared at her thoughtfully. The next level, huh? It was weird, but she could never bring herself to imagine what that next level would be like. As far as she was concerned, she would be perfectly happy if they could remain the way they were now for the rest of their lives: doing housework and working on Harima's manga together, day in and day out. Harima was the first and, so far, the only man Yakumo had been able to trust implicitly. Having been gifted – or cursed – with the ability to read the thoughts of men who were attracted to her – which, in her case, meant practically every man she met – had caused her to become wary of men ever since she was little. Entertaining such dirty thoughts about her while feigning innocence on the outside – how could she ever place any trust in them? But Harima was different. She had never once sensed dirty thoughts coming from _him, _not even when the two of them were alone for hours on end. Around him, she felt safe…comfortable. Of course, she had realized soon enough this was because he was in love with her sister, but it did not change the fact that she liked being close to him. She didn't want that to change. She didn't want Harima to become like those other men, whose thoughts scared her off. What was wrong with the relationship they had now, anyway? Every time she tried to think about a different sort of relationship with him, an odd unwillingness made her push the thought away. She knew it wasn't normal…but then again she was not exactly a normal girl.

Sarah looked at her with concern and sighed again. "Come on, I didn't say that to make you upset. There's still time for you to figure out what you want to do, so just go at your own pace. Now, how about we make some dinner, huh?"

Yakumo nodded, looking at her friend affectionately. She was really lucky to have Sarah as her best friend; she understood her really well, perhaps more so than her own sister. Not that she loved her sister any less for that. She knew that Tenma cared deeply about her, in her own eccentric way. Even the way she misunderstood her was part of it.

Meanwhile, in the back seat of Eri's luxurious limo, she and Harima sat as far away from one another as possible, avoiding each other's eyes persistently. After a while, Harima was unable to tolerate the oppressive silence any longer. After all, they were supposed to be engaged, it wouldn't do for them to look like they were fighting. "So, this house we're going to, how far is it?"

"About a half-hour drive from my mansion," answered Eri, somewhat mollified. "That's right, I should tell you a few things about the host," she continued. "It will go more smoothly if you know a bit about him, probably."

Harima remained silent, waiting for her to continue. "Saejima-san is the CEO of a large publishing company. K-Publishers, ever heard of it?"

"Nope," came the direct answer. "Do they publish manga or something?"

"No, I believe they deal more in books and women's magazines," answered Eri. "Still, he has a lot of connections in the publishing world. It might benefit your career to get to know him. I have to warn you, though, he's a hard man to approach, and he hates people sucking up to him. It's rather difficult to get on his good side, or so I've heard. To me, he's always been very kind, so I can't tell for sure."

"So, where do you know him from, anyway? Is he a friend of your father's?"

"Yes, he and Father go way back, apparently. Every time he sees me he goes on about how he knows me ever since I was in diapers," said Eri, looking at Harima as if she dared him to laugh at her. "What, do you think it's funny?"

"You were probably way easier to deal with, back then," muttered Harima under his breath. "What did you say?" Eri flared up again, but their arrival at her mansion prevented a new row from breaking out.

They separated at the top of the grand staircase. "Your dress has been laid out for you in your room, Ojou-sama," Nakamura said, bowing respectfully. "I will have Harima-sama meet you here as soon as he's ready."

As soon as Eri was gone, he turned to Harima. "If you would come this way, Harima-sama," he said, bowing again. "R-right," Harima said awkwardly. He wasn't used to having a butler attending to him, and found this situation positively unnerving.

Nakamura led him all the way down the corridor before finally stopping in front of a massive wooden door. "This is the dressing-room," he explained pompously. "Ever since you became engaged to Ojou-sama, I expected such an occasion to arise, so I took the precaution of preparing a few outfits for your use." He gestured towards a large oak closet, then walked briskly towards it and opened it.

Harima's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. _He called that a few?_ Inside the closet hang dozens of suits, complete with shirts and ties, as well as more casual clothes, probably for activities other than formal parties. He doubted his lifespan would be enough to wear all of them, even if he never wore each more than once. And of course, even he could tell they were brand-named and made from the finest materials. _That's a rich girl for you_, he thought, but then he remembered that Eri didn't seem to know about her butler's initiative. Shifting uncomfortably, he turned to the butler, looking for some guidance. "So…what do I do now?"

"Why don't you pick something you like and try it on?" suggested Nakamura helpfully. Harima started browsing through the suits hesitantly. They all looked pretty similar to him, how was he supposed to know which one was better? Finally, he pulled out a black suit with crisp white shirt. The reason he chose it was that it didn't seem to go with a tie, so he thought it would be less constricting.

"An excellent choice, if I may say so, sir. Try it on, why don't you." Harima shed his jacket and T-shirt and put the white shirt on. It fitted perfectly, as if it had been tailored for him. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How the hell did you know my size?"

"A butler's professional secret," replied Nakamura with dignity. Truth was, that time when Harima had stayed over at Eri's to work on the field trip album with her, he had taken the opportunity to measure his clothes while he was in the bath. He had a presentiment something would develop between Ojou-sama and that young man, and as usually, he had been right.

Still eyeing him suspiciously, Harima retreated behind a nearby screen to wear the rest of the suit. He hadn't forgotten that time when Nakamura had ambushed him in Ojou's bath, dressed up like a high school girl. He was definitely a weird one, and Harima resolved to not stay in the same room with him any longer than necessary. He put hastily the rest of the suit on, and stepped out from behind the screen, feeling rather self-conscious. "Will that do?"

"Oh yes, I think it looks very good on you. Just one more thing," said Nakamura, approaching him quickly. Before Harima had a chance to react, he had pried deftly his headband off his head, then with swift, ninja-like moves, he whipped some hair wax out of nowhere and fixed his long, unruly bangs. "There," he said proudly, "this is much better, if I do say so myself. Please, take a look," he urged, pointing to a large framed mirror at the other end of the room.

Harima looked at his reflection and was impressed in spite of himself. The suit complimented his muscular figure well, and the somber colors made him look manly and dignified, or so he thought. The hairstyle wasn't half bad either; he was used to having his hair pulled back, but the way they looked now, his bangs falling on his forehead directly above his eyes, was quite cool too. "I guess it's alright," he said grudgingly, and went to retrieve his wallet and cell phone from his jacket. Nakamura opened the door, and led him back to the top of the staircase.

If you would be so kind as to wait for Ojou-sama here, then," he said with yet another bow. "I will be waiting in the car," and just like that, he was gone.

Harima was left alone at the top of the massive staircase, not quite sure what to do with himself. He hoped Ojou would not keep him waiting too long; women always seemed to take their time when they were dressing up. Just then he felt his cell phone vibrate in his inner pocket and flipped it open. It was a text message from his editor, mentioning some adjustments to the plot he had suggested a couple of days ago. Better answer him now since he might not have the chance to do so later. He bent his head over the phone and started typing.

Eri popped her head out of her bedroom door and took a peek in the direction of the staircase. Sure enough, Hige was standing there looking down at something, probably his cell phone. Eri felt a bit relieved he hadn't seen her yet; it was their first official outing together, and she was more than a little nervous. Taking her courage into both hands, she shut the door behind her and walked towards him.

Even though she wore high heels, the thick carpet on the corridor silenced the sound of her footsteps completely, and Harima didn't hear her approach, still pondering over his e-mail. Now that she was closer and could take a good look at him, she felt her heart beating fast. Even though he was just Hige, he looked…cool. She liked the thick black hair falling over his sharp eyes, and the contrast the white shirt made with his swarthy skin, and the way his chest muscles were outlined underneath the smooth cotton, and…_Oh my God, what am I thinking?_ She mentally slapped herself for being a pervert, and walked quickly up to him. "Sorry to have kept you waiting," she said, a slight tremor in her voice.

Harima flipped his phone shut and began to raise his head. "Well, you sure took your sweet time, Oj…" The words faded on his lips, as he looked up and saw her standing in front of him. For a moment, he forgot to breathe.

Was Ojou always…this beautiful?

Eri wore a long, gold-colored satin evening dress, draped tightly around her slim figure, accentuating her soft curves. Her blond hair was pulled up, exposing the long, milky-white neck. Her dress' straps were tied in a bow at the back of her neck and pulled up tightly, outlining her breasts clearly. No jewels, and hardly any make-up, but she had no need for it, not with that smooth, flawless ivory skin. Harima caught himself wondering how it would feel to the touch, and felt a heat-wave surging inside him. His heart was racing like mad, and he seemed to have lost the ability to think straight.

"The suit…looks good on you," said Eri hesitantly. She didn't know what to make of Harima's gaze that was fixated on her.

The sound of her voice brought him out of his trance. Pulling himself together, he blurted out, "T-thanks. You…don't look so bad yourself."

Of course, that was a gross understatement of what he felt right now, but he didn't dare say anything more. Fortunately, Eri was too embarrassed to be offended by his curtness. She was pretty used to it, anyway.

"Let's get going, shall we? It's getting late," she said, and started to go down the staircase, holding up the hem of her dress with one hand. Behind her, Harima gulped as he got an eyeful of her naked back and slim waist and the delicate curve of her hips. His right hand moved on its own in her direction, then he realized what he was about to do and grabbed it with his left one, panic flashing through his brain like an electric shock. _What the hell is wrong with you, Harima Kenji? This is Ojou, remember? You're supposed to be fighting with her, not thinking she's pretty, or alluring, or…_ He stopped short, panicking even more at the direction his thoughts were taking. He didn't even understand himself any more. He had seen Eri dressed up before, and it hadn't done a thing for him, so why now? Could it be he was coming down with something? It never occurred to him that it was his first time seeing her like that _after_ he had his heart broken. Before, his mind was so full of Tenma that he hadn't even registered what he had seen.

Eri, already halfway down the staircase, sensed he wasn't following her and turned back to see what was wrong. "Hige? Are you all right?" Not trusting himself to speak, he just nodded and forced his legs to move forward. He must be under the weather or something, that's why he was having such weird thoughts, he told himself. There could be no other explanation.

Eri looked at him worriedly for a second, then turned and descended the rest of the stairs, Harima catching up with her soon enough. They got in the car silently, and Nakamura drove off. Harima sat at the very edge of the back seat and stared resolutely out the window, even though it was getting dark and he couldn't really see anything. He was determined not to look towards Eri for the time being. He was afraid…really afraid what looking at her might do to his state of mind.

Eri sat next to him, constantly throwing worried looks in his direction. Hige definitely seemed upset over something, but what? The only thing she could come up with was that he felt uncomfortable about the party. Unlike her, he wasn't used to this kind of social event. Eri decided that she should give him some moral support after all. She wouldn't admit it for the world, but she was grateful he had agreed to accompany her. It wouldn't hurt to show a little appreciation.

Tentatively, she inched close to him and put her hand on his arm. Harima tensed up at the touch of her hand, in more than one ways. The delicate scent that reached his nostrils went straight to his head and he gripped the car seat tightly in an effort to keep himself in check. "Hige? Can I tell you something?"

"I'm listening." He didn't turn around though, and just kept staring out the window. He really could not trust the expression on his face right now. Ojou normally never approached him on her own, why did she have to do it now of all times?

"I just wanted you to know I really appreciate your help," said Eri quietly. "I know you must hate going to this kind of thing, and yet…"

Mystified by her words, he forgot his restlessness and turned around to face her. "Hate it? I haven't been to one yet, so it's hard to say if I hate it or not. Although, to be honest, I don't expect I will like it as much as you do…"

Eri pulled back a little and gave him a strange look. "What makes you think I like it?"

"What, you say…Don't you always run off to some party or other?" he asked, a bit taken aback.

She shrugged a little, her face clouding over. "I go there because I have to, for the sake of my family. It doesn't mean I like it."

"Why not? The people there are from your class, right? Not commoners like me," he said curiously. "You must have a lot in common with them."

Eri tried hard to swallow the offensive reply that came to her lips. He didn't mean to insult her, she reminded herself, he just had no idea what he was talking about, as usual. However, she was unable to keep the irritation out of her voice. "If I wanted to hang around rich people, why would I go to a school like ours?" she demanded. "For your information, I _hate _it every single time I have to go to those fancy parties. The women apparently have nothing better to do than gossip about me behind my back. And the men suck up to me at first, and when I don't buy their act, they say I'm a player, or a slut…or even worse. You don't know how it is, so don't jump to conclusions all on your own." It was too dark to see her face, but her voice sounded strained, as if she was about to cry.

Harima felt he had made a total ass out of himself. "Sorry, Ojou," he said awkwardly. "I didn't know it was like this…but you know, you shouldn't mind what these creeps say so much. You know what kind of person you are better than anyone else."

Eri nodded vigorously. "I know. That's why I'm still able to socialize with them, you see." She raised her blond head proudly. "I refuse to be broken by the likes of them."

For a while, Harima stared at her in silence. He used to think she was just a shallow rich girl who liked to play around, but recently he had discovered that was not the case at all. As a result, his opinion of her had changed and a certain trust had formed between the two of them, but he still had a lot to learn about her, it seemed. He did not expect her to be so averse to people from the same social background as her, for instance. Harima wondered just what had happened to her in the past to make her react like this.

Just then, the car passed through an elaborate cast-iron gate and entered the main alley leading to the mansion. "It looks like we're almost there," Eri said as if nothing had happened. Indeed, a minute later, the car stopped in front of a huge European-style mansion. Nakamura held the door open for them, and Eri got out, followed by Harima. She was just about to head for the entrance, when Harima impulsively reached out and grabbed her hand. She stopped in her tracks, casting him a startled look.

"We're supposed to be engaged, so we might as well look the part," said Harima without looking at her. He headed for the entrance in large strides, pulling her by the hand behind him. He wasn't sure why he had done this; all he knew was that he didn't want her to carry her burdens alone any more. Not while he was there with her.

Eri was stunned for a second, then she felt a wave of warmth washing over her heart. She was not on her own that night; here was someone she could rely on. Smiling happily, she squeezed Harima's hand and walked beside him with her head held high. They ascended the entrance stairs, and were ushered through the ornate wooden doors into the brightly lit mansion, hand in hand.

Saejima-san's huge living room was just like Eri remembered, decorated with numerous tasteless paintings, statuettes, vases and other trinkets, every single one of them terribly gaudy and overly eye-catching. Saejima-san liked to think of himself as a patron of the arts, but his taste in them left much to be desired. Still, he was a good man, and Eri didn't want to hurt his feelings by telling him what she truly thought of his precious art collection.

A lot of guests had already arrived, and Eri could hear a lot of hushed and not-so-hushed whispers around her, as she walked down the living room, hand in hand with Harima. "Is that Sawachika-san? She looks lovely tonight…" "Who is that man with her? I've never seen him before," "There was a rumor she was engaged to some commoner. Could it be him?" "Oh my, he looks like a delinquent, but so handsome!" "And tall, too. Really manly…" Out of the corner of her eye, she could see quite a few women looking at her enviously. _You got that right, you arrogant witches. He may be a commoner, but he's more of a man than all your wimpy rich dates put together._

She cast a sideways look at Harima, and was pleased to see that he walked proudly with his head high, and did not seem unnerved or intimidated in the slightest. If he could hear the whispering around them, he gave no indication of it, his expression unreadable as usual. They headed for the far end of the living room to greet their host, a short, fat balding man in his fifties. At first glance he looked like a kind old grandpa, but his eyes were shrewd and appraising. A lot of his business rivals had been taken in by his jovial appearance, only to regret it later.

"Why, if it isn't my little Eri-chan!" he exclaimed affectionately, grasping both Eri's hands with his own and squeezing them. Harima raised an eyebrow at this unusual display of intimacy, but decided not to say anything. The old man was less reserved than the average Japanese, but it didn't look like he was a pervert. Besides, Ojou didn't seem put out, so he was probably still treating her like a little girl or something.

"I swear, you're more beautiful every time I see you!" the old man continued his enthusiastic rambling. "I've heard about your engagement, of course. My, my, how time flies! It seems to me it was just yesterday when you were in diapers!" Harima struggled with all his might to suppress a snicker, and it was fortunate he managed to maintain his serious look, because now the fat man had turned towards him. "Is that the lucky young man?" he asked.

"Saejima-san, please allow me to introduce my fiancé, Harima Kenji-san," said Eri in her most polite demeanor. "Kenji-san, this is Saejima Souichirou-san, an old friend of my father's."

"My name is Harima Kenji. Pleased to meet you, sir," Harima said, bowing. Even without looking, he could feel Saejima-san eyeing him all over appraisingly. "Well, he certainly looks like a handsome, well-spoken young man," he told Eri, then he turned to Harima again. "I understand you and Eri-chan are classmates, yes?" he asked.

"That is correct, sir." "So, what do you plan to do after high school?" the old man went on with his questioning. "Going to college? Or are you going to look for work?"

"I already work as a mangaka," answered Harima without hesitation. "It is my intention to continue in this direction."

"Oh, an artist then! Splendid, splendid! I sincerely hope we will hear of your successes in the future," said the old man cordially. Then he turned to Eri again, inquiring about her parents' well-being, as well as a bunch of other people Harima had never heard of. He could not quite follow their conversation, so he started gazing absentmindedly at his surroundings, his eyes drifting over the garish decorative artworks. Pretty soon he was immersed in his observations, trying to imprint the details of the room in his memory as much as possible.

"I see you are quite taken with my little collection, young man," Saejima-san's voice broke through his concentration. "Do you have an interest in antiques as well?"

"Actually, I was thinking about my manga," he replied. "I have to draw the inside of an old lady's mansion for the next chapter, and this room is almost exactly what I had in mind."

To his surprise, the old geezer's face lit up, and he clapped him on the shoulder enthusiastically. "Ah, it is most gratifying that my humble home has served as inspiration to a promising young artist! Please, feel free to look around as much as you want. I have to entertain some important guests now, so you two youngsters have a good time, and we'll talk some more later, yes?" He squeezed both their hands with an affectionate smile, and headed for the entrance, where some new guests – foreigners, judging by their looks – had made their appearance.

"Wow, that was really smooth, Hige," remarked Eri, impressed. "Usually it takes a lot more to win Saejima-san over. That bit about you wanting to draw his living room in your manga went down really well with him."

Harima looked at her in mild surprise. "I didn't say that to flatter him, you know," he said evenly. "I just told him the truth, that's all. This place really is just the thing for the old lady's mansion. Too bad I didn't bring my sketchpad and pen with me," he shook his head regretfully. "But I can at least try to memorize it as much as possible."

"Well, in that case, so much the better; you got two birds with one stone. I'm really happy for you, although," she pouted a little, "I must say I'm a little hurt you didn't consider using my mansion for your setting…"

"Nah, your place would never do," said Harima matter-of-factly. _Say what? Why that Hige…_ Eri flushed angrily yet again and was just about to lash out at him, when he added, "…The old lady is supposed to have really bad taste in decoration."

Eri stared at him dumbfounded for a few seconds, then suddenly burst out laughing. "Oh, Hige, it never gets dull around you!" she gasped whilst holding her sides, her eyes teary from laughing too hard. Harima stared at her in astonishment; he didn't think he had said anything particularly funny. Not wishing to make him feel awkward, Eri stopped laughing and pulled herself together. "I just remembered something funny, that's all," she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "Come on, there are some people we have to greet," she went on, tugging at his sleeve, and led him across the room.

A couple of hours later, after having exchanged countless meaningless pleasantries with as many boring people, Harima was finding it increasingly difficult to repress his yawns. It didn't help that the room was pretty hot and stuffy. The juice he held in his hand was of little use; the ice had melted ages ago and it was now more lukewarm than cool. Beside him, Eri was just finishing her farewells with a middle-aged couple. Good, they were finally running out of acquaintances to greet, apparently. On the whole, Harima hadn't talked much, although he was really polite those few times he spoke. He had thought the 'strong, silent type' approach would be best here, since he was in unfamiliar surroundings and had nothing in common with the people he talked to. Ojou probably approved of his attitude, too, seeing as she didn't seem to mind carrying out most of the conversation herself.

"Tired?" asked Eri after the middle-aged couple had left. She, too, seemed quite fed up. "Yeah, pretty much. How much longer do we have to stay?"

"I think we can excuse ourselves in a little while. We're not supposed to stay up all night anyway; we're still high school students after all. Phew, it sure is hot in here. Say, Hige, do you mind if I go to the ladies' room for a second? I'd like to wash up a bit."

"Sure, go ahead. I think I'll head outside in the meantime," he said, pointing towards the terrace. "Cool my head a little."

"Good idea. Go catch some fresh air. I'll meet you there," and they headed in opposite directions. But just as Eri was making a turn for the stairs leading to the upper floor and the guests' bathrooms, she saw a woman making her way towards Harima in a very determined fashion. Even though she was quite far away, she recognized her immediately. Those light brown hair with red highlights, a slutty dress as usually, and most eye-catching of all, those huge breasts…no doubt about it. It was _her._

"That hussy again! I bet she just waited for Hige to be left alone so that she could make a move on him!" Eri's nostrils flared with anger. Her first impulse was to march right up to her and slap her across the face, or dump a glass of juice over her head, but unfortunately that would never do. She didn't even have a legitimate reason to make a scene, since the other girl had done nothing to offend her yet. But she was going to, Eri was sure of it. It was always the same with Tadatomo Mitsuko.

Eri had no idea what she had done to earn Mitsuko's spite. Maybe she was jealous of her, or perhaps some guy or other had rejected Mitsuko because of her…she really had no way of knowing. Mitsuko had never bothered to enlighten her, and she thought it a waste of time to try and find out the truth. She didn't really care about being hated by such a person anyway. Mitsuko was exactly the type of 'cheap rich girl' Harima believed Eri to be before she beat the truth about herself into him. A girl who liked to party and fool around, and often made use of her bodily assets – namely, her breasts – to get men to indulge her whims. For some reason, she had set herself as Eri's rival, and every time she saw a man express any interest at all in her, she would go out of her way trying to snatch him away from her – of course, most of the time she failed, which made her all the more vindictive. Of course she would never miss an opportunity to make a pass at her fiancé.

Up till then, Eri didn't really mind Mitsuko's meddling, since she didn't really care about any of those guys who tried to win her affections. If anything, the stupid wench had taken one or two of those annoying flirts off her hands, sparing her the trouble of rejecting them. But Hige was another matter; no way was she letting her make a move on him. Eri turned back and made her way towards Harima, taking cover behind a row of pillars so as not to be seen. She would not hesitate to make a scene if necessary, but she wanted to see Harima's reaction first. On some level, she already knew he would never go for that kind of vulgar woman, but she couldn't help but worry nonetheless.

Harima was on his way to the terrace, when he was suddenly cut off by a girl in a very low-cut lame mauve dress greeting him. He did not recall being introduced to her, so at first he thought he'd just bow and move on. Unfortunately, she wasn't inclined to let him go that easily. Standing deliberately right in front of him, she was effectively blocking him from going on his way, and it was impossible to turn around and leave without appearing rude. Therefore he was left with no choice but to stand there and listen to her inane and overly familiar chatter with growing irritation. Harima had always found this type of clingy woman particularly distasteful. To make matters worse, he disliked her appearance as well. Her face was passable, but she had way too much make-up on for a girl her age, and both her attire and attitude were way too loose for his taste. The way she flaunted those gigantic boobs in front of him…amazing how crass some of those rich girls could be. And to think he had viewed Ojou's attitude as loose in the past. Compared to that, she was practically a saint.

It was pretty evident even to him that this girl thought she could wrap him around her little finger just by dangling her breasts under his nose. Well, too bad for her, because he wasn't even remotely tempted by them. Because of his infatuation with Tenma, Harima had always been partial to small breasts rather than big ones. Medium-sized ones like Ojou's went down okay with him, but cow-tits like that woman's were more of a turn-off than a turn-on. Of course, Mitsuko had no way of knowing this, so she kept making full use of what she considered her greatest weapon, foolishly interpreting Harima's appalled look as that of someone stunned by her beauty.

Eri had managed to get pretty close by then, and hidden behind a pillar next to them, she was finally able to overhear their conversation. "Sooo…you're Sawachika-san's rumored fiancé! I've been, like, _dying_ to meet you, after having heard so much about you!" Mitsuko was dawdling, in full attack mode.

Harima furrowed his eyebrows perplexedly. No one but Ojou could have spoken about him to that woman, and he couldn't quite picture her hanging out with such a person. "Are you a friend of Oj…I mean, Eri-san's?" he asked, as politely as he could.

Friendship was hardly an appropriate term to describe her relationship with Eri, but she couldn't really describe the exact nature of their relations, given the circumstances. Wisely deciding to avoid the question, she said instead, "I'm Tadatomo Mitsuko, but you can call me Mii-chan. All my friends call me that," she continued, tilting her head in what she obviously thought was a cute gesture. Unfortunately for her, it was just as obvious that Harima did not share her opinion, if the disapproving look in his eyes was anything to judge by.

Mitsuko, however, was nothing if not persistent. "Sooo, Sawachika-san left you all alone, you poor thing? Well, there's no helping it, I guess…I'll keep you company for now. How about we go grab a drink?" She moved to latch on to his arm, but Harima foresaw her move and backed off in time. The last thing he wanted was to spend any more time in that stuffy room with that insufferable woman.

"Sorry, no can do. I was looking for Eri-san just now; we're about to leave," he replied, making a real effort not to sound rude. In any other circumstances he would have told her to take a flying leap already, but he didn't want to embarrass Ojou or his host – the old geezer had treated him pretty well after all – by making a commotion.

"Aww, do you have to leave so soon?" pouted Mitsuko, evidently not getting the message. She inched a bit closer and dropped her voice confidentially. "Not that I don't understand, mind you…Sawachika-san can be kind of…unpleasant company sometimes, but it's not just her here, you know." She bounced her breasts ostentatiously, and added with a confident smile, "There are lots of other pretty women here, don't you agree?"

Harima decided he'd had just about enough of this. He had tried being civil, but some people simply could not take a hint, apparently. Well then, no choice but to go with the direct approach. "Funny you should say that," he remarked coolly. He let his eyes wonder about the room purposely, then transfixed her with a cold glare than not even she could mistake for anything other than blatant revulsion. "I've been here for hours already, and I've yet to see any woman even half as pretty as her."

Mitsuko stared at him for a few seconds in wide-eyed astonishment; then her face went crimson with anger and humiliation and she turned around and stomped away from him in a huff. Harima glanced around, but no one seemed to have noticed what had transpired; fortunately he hadn't spoken very loudly and the background music had probably muffled his voice sufficiently. That woman was going to have a really bad opinion of him, but he couldn't care less really, and he strongly suspected Ojou wouldn't either. Relieved that this uncomfortable scene was finally over, he made a beeline for the terrace as quickly as he could, before someone else got into his head to strike a conversation with him.

Alone behind the pillar, Eri stared at Harima's back as he went away, a wave of joy and affection swelling in her chest. It wasn't that he had managed to fend that annoying woman off all on his own without even causing a scene; it wasn't even that he had defended her so admirably. More than anything, she was happy because she had heard him openly declare she was the prettiest girl in the room. And it wasn't just empty words; Hige was not the kind of guy who dished out meaningless compliments. He was far too straightforward for that; heck, in the past he had called her the most horrible names, both to her face and behind her back, without turning a hair. It was safe to assume that what he had said just now was his honest opinion. Sure, it wasn't the same as a love confession, Eri was well aware of that, but nonetheless it made her happy he thought so highly of her.

She wanted to do something for him in return, give him a token of gratitude, but she wasn't sure what would be appropriate. Most of the time she treated him rather harshly, and if she suddenly started acting overly nice now it would probably creep him out. Undecided, she cast a look about the room, and finally her eyes settled on the bar at the other end. Getting him a fresh drink wasn't that big a deal, she decided. It wasn't much of an appreciation gesture either, but at least he wouldn't freak out over it.

_Finally some peace and quiet,_ thought Harima as he leaned against the terrace railing. Fortunately it was still rather chilly outside this time of the year, and there was no one else outside. He had the whole place to himself. Pretty big place it was, too; at least as big as Imouto-san's back yard, if not bigger. There were tables and lawn chairs here and there, and even clumps of huge decorative potted plants. Harima went all the way down to the far end and half-concealed himself behind a few of these plants before he finally began to feel a bit at ease. The whole evening had been rather tedious for him, and the unpleasant encounter with the slutty girl just now had been the finishing blow to his mood. At least here he could wait it out until it was time to leave without further disturbances.

Or so he thought, but it was not meant to be. Barely five minutes had passed when he saw someone step through the glass doors and make his way towards him. Harima sighed in frustration; it seemed he wasn't going to be left alone after all. At least this time it was a man approaching him, some guy in a white tux. About the same age as him, or maybe a few years older, it was hard to tell. Rather on the short side, seeing as his head barely reached Harima's chin; slender, but hardly muscular, and without the natural moving grace of a fighter. After years of street-fighting, Harima could tell at a glance whether a man could put up a decent fight or not; this one looked like he could be knocked out with one good punch. As for his face, he was what one might call a pretty boy; good-looking but kind of wimpy, and overly conscious of his good looks. All in all, not someone he would be overjoyed to meet, but since he was headed straight towards him there was probably no getting out of it.

"Ah, Sawachika-san's fiancé, I presume," he drawled with affected politeness. Well, what do you know, it seemed that everyone in this gathering had heard of him. Harima gave him a sideways glance, and then decided he might as well get it over with. He bowed curtly and said, "Harima Kenji. And you are?"

"Iwasaki Kaede." The newcomer eyed him from head to toe with a wry smile on his face, making him feel like some sort of curious exhibit. After a few moments of awkward silence, he drawled out again, "Well, I must say…you are nothing like Sawachika-san's usual style."

It was right at this moment when Eri stepped out to the terrace, holding a glass of juice in each hand. Just as she was looking around for Hige, the wind carried Iwasaki's words over to her ears, and sure enough, there they were on the far end, standing in front of each other next to the railing. At the sight of Iwasaki, Eri's brow furrowed and she bit her lip nervously. Of all the worst luck! First Mitsuko, and now him? She was fully aware how ill-disposed Iwasaki was towards her, which made her really afraid of what he might say to Hige about her. On the other hand, if she intruded on them now, after what he had just said, it would be quite awkward. No two ways about it then; apparently this was going to be a night of eavesdropping. Luckily, neither of the two men had noticed her, engrossed as they were in staring at each other. She quickly hid behind a clump of potted plants and strained her ears to hear their conversation.

Harima did not ask what Iwasaki meant by 'usual style', although it was obviously expected of him to do so. It wasn't something he needed to ask about, really; surely, Ojou up till then did not show up at these upper-class parties in the company of delinquents, and he knew full well that despite the suit and everything his appearance was still that of a delinquent. Seeing he did not take the bait, Iwasaki went on to say, "Then again…Sawachika-san has always been kind of picky in her personal relationships. You may not know this, but she has refused a lot of arranged marriages in the past, even one last Christmas." He gave Harima another crooked smile. "I was wondering what sort of man would be able to tie her down."

Harima frowned visibly. Oh, that was rich. He knew about Eri's refusal of the arranged marriage all right, seeing as he was the one who had given her the necessary confidence to break it off. And now this prick was trying to use _that_ to make him look down on her? Harima felt his anger rising all over again. With great effort he restrained his desire to bash Iwasaki's head in and said instead in a deceptively calm voice, "What do you mean, tie her down? She's not an animal, you know." Anyone who knew him at all would have realized by now what danger they were facing, but Iwasaki was too absorbed in his little game to notice Harima's menacing countenance. He laughed sarcastically and said, "Well, no, of course not, but she _is_ pretty wild, if you catch my drift…Word is that she refused all her marriage candidates so that she wouldn't have…too many demands on her private time."

Behind the flower pots, Eri's face had turned deathly pale, and she was squeezing the two glasses she held so tightly they all but shattered in her hands. In agony, she tried to make out Harima's expression in the dark, desperate to guess at his thoughts. _Hige…you don't believe him, do you? _

For a full ten seconds, Harima was perfectly still, staring straight into the other man's eyes. Then, without warning, his right hand shot out like a flash, grabbing Iwasaki by his shirtfront. With little effort, he lifted him up with one hand until they were at eye level; of course, with their height difference, that meant Iwasaki's feet no longer touched the ground, dangling helplessly in the air. Harima leaned forward threateningly, his black eyes gleaming like blades, and in a low, bone-chilling voice he asked, "Did you just say…that Eri-san is an easy woman?"

Iwasaki was scared shitless. He had thought he could have a little fun provoking Eri's commoner fiancé, but this was no ordinary dumb delinquent. This man was far more perceptive and dangerous than he had imagined, and now his foremost thought was how to get out of this situation unharmed. Shaking with fear, he stammered, "Of-of-of course not. I w-would never say something like that for S-Sawachika-san."

"Good," said Harima, without however releasing him just yet. "I don't give a damn what you rich brats might say about me, but I _will_ beat the crap out of anyone who badmouths my fiancée, do I make myself clear?"

"P-perfectly," said Iwasaki, desperately trying to refrain from peeing his pants. "Good," Harima said again. "I am _so _glad we understand each other." He unclenched his right fist and dropped Iwasaki unceremoniously on the ground. Without bothering with farewells, Iwasaki scrambled to his feet and fled for the living room as though he was being chased by a horde of demons.

Alone at last, Harima leaned once again on the railing, burying his face in his hands. Damn, once a delinquent, always a delinquent. He had managed to get himself into a fight yet again; it was sheer dumb luck nobody had noticed the incident. Oh well, no use fretting over it now. That scumbag was probably too scared to babble about what had happened, and in any case he did not regret what he did one bit. He, too, had spoken badly of Ojou more than once in the past, but he definitely wasn't going to stand by and let some rich twit slander her in his presence, no matter what the situation.

Slowly, he breathed in and out, forcing himself to calm down. Well, at least now he knew why Ojou detested attending parties so much. To think that all these years she had to put up with this kind of treatment from her so-called social circle alone, unable to say anything back, with no one to look out for her…Sure, her family provided for her, probably cared about her too, but they weren't there for her when she was vulnerable like this. And yet, she hadn't been crushed or bent; she had grown strong, stronger than most people of his acquaintance, and that was saying a lot. Never losing sight of her goals, never giving up halfway, never accepting defeat. A person he could respect, because he could not help but respect a strong spirit and an indomitable will, ultimately that's who Sawachika Eri was.

Still concealed in her hiding place, Eri watched him silently. Once again she was grateful, not so much for what he had done but for how he felt. Of course she was thankful he had spoken up for her too…it was probably the first time someone else had got angry for her sake, but more than anything she was truly happy to know that his opinion of her would not change just because of a fake accusation. Since the beginning she had always thought she had fallen for him for no good reason, but now she felt she had plenty of good reasons to be in love with him. The Harima Kenji before her right now was indeed a man worthy of her feelings.

She wanted to go to him, but she was unsure how much should she say about what had happened. Would it be better to pretend she hadn't seen a thing, or should she talk about it openly? It was hard to tell which course of action was best with Hige; he was always so unpredictable. In the end, she decided to probe him a bit and see if he was willing to talk about it on his own. If he wasn't, she would drop the subject. Having made her decision, she slipped out of her hideout and walked up to him.

"There you are." Eri's voice abruptly interrupted the train of Harima's thoughts. He turned around and saw her standing near him with two glasses of juice in her hands. Tentatively, she held one out to him. "I thought you might be thirsty."

"…Thanks." He took the glass from her and downed most of the contents in one gulp, then set it on the railing beside him. Eri waited for him to say something but he remained silent, peering out into the darkness with an inscrutable expression. Seeing he did not seemed inclined to talk first, she asked hesitantly, "Was Iwasaki-san here with you? I thought I saw him leaving here just now…"

"There was some guy. I didn't catch his name." He wasn't lying; in the rush of his anger the guy's name had completely slipped his mind. He gave Ojou a searching look, wondering if she was mad at him for picking a fight with another guest, but she seemed rather calm, almost subdued. After gazing at him for a few seconds she asked again, "So, what were you two talking about?"

"…Nothing worth mentioning." His tone was odd, Eri thought; not quite as sharp as usually, more like…troubled, although she couldn't figure out about what. After another long pause, he asked her in turn, "Is he a friend of yours?"

Now _that_ was an awkward question to answer. Eri's brow puckered as she wondered how she should reply; after a minute of self-debating she decided it was best to come clean. "…No, not a friend," she said slowly. "Remember that arranged marriage you helped me break up last Christmas? Iwasaki-san…well, in point of fact he was supposed to be the groom."

Harima stared at her in astonishment, unable to believe his ears. The nerve of that scum! Even if he was bitter about the match breaking off, how could he go about and speak of the woman he had almost got engaged to in such an insulting manner! Unconsciously he clenched his fists, the veins at his temples pounding furiously. _If I knew about this, I would've beaten his sorry ass to kingdom come and to hell with good manners,_ he thought, literally boiling with rage. "Your parents wanted to marry you off to _that_? Some parents," he remarked acidly before he could stop himself.

Drawing her eyebrows together, Eri cast him a withering look. Despite her feelings for him, she wasn't disposed to let him speak ill of her family. "They were trying to ensure my future, Hige," she said severely. "I'm not saying it was the right choice, but I'm sure they did it with nothing but my interests in mind."

"And this was the best they could come up with?" he asked scathingly. "Oh, don't be such a child," snapped Eri. "Surely _your_ parents too have done things you didn't like because they thought it was for your own good."

Harima's face clouded over, and he turned away from her once again. "I'm afraid you're wrong," he said bitterly, his eyes fixed somewhere far away. "My family never bothered with me enough to interfere with my life."

Eri bit her lip guiltily; unbeknownst to her, she had stepped on a landmine. "I…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" she said awkwardly.

"Don't be," he snapped curtly. Then, catching her hurt expression, he went on more softly, "There's no need to feel bad, really. I got over it a long time ago."

But Eri still seemed worried, and he felt he should at least try to give her an explanation. "It wasn't some big drama or anything," he said. "My old man split a little after I got into elementary school – not that he was much around before anyway. A year or two later, my mother remarried and had my kid brother. Him I didn't mind, but I didn't get along with my stepdad, so as soon as I got the chance, I ran away from home. That's pretty much it," he concluded impassively.

"Why didn't you get along with your stepfather?" inquired Eri. "Did he…mistreat you or something?" It was a pretty delicate question, she knew; with all her heart she hoped he wouldn't think she was being nosy. This wasn't idle curiosity on her part; she wanted to know because she was genuinely concerned about him.

Harima, however, simply shook his head. "He didn't beat me up, if that's what you're thinking," he replied evenly. "I just didn't trust him enough, I guess. I always thought, if I couldn't trust my own father, why the hell should I trust a stranger, just because my mother got married to him? So I decided I should live only for myself, and never let anyone, family or not, close enough to tie me down or meddle with my life. I suppose that's why I left home after all."

Eri leaned over the railing next to him and looked out into the night. After a few moments of silence, she asked again, "But now…you no longer think that way, right? Something must have happened to change you so much…what was it?"

"I…met someone. Someone who changed my life." He wondered why he was telling Ojou all this; he always thought of himself as a very private person who hated others prying into his affairs more than anything. But somehow, he did not feel uncomfortable opening up to her. For some unknown reason ever since he first met her he had always been able to be himself around her, without caring about being judged or looked down on. It might be because he didn't feel the need to make a good impression on her seeing as they always fought anyway. Whatever the cause though, he sincerely believed he could tell her anything, and she of all people would understand him.

"Tenma," Eri said. It was a statement, not a question. No one but Tenma could have brought about such a change. "What did she do, Hige? What could she do or say that meant so much to you?"

She took a peek at his face and saw him smiling faintly with the same faraway look. "Well, first she entrusted herself completely to me, a total stranger, and then she called me a pervert and ran off. Can you believe it?"

"Actually, yes, I can," said Eri, also smiling a little. "That sounds exactly like something she would do." Yes, that was Tenma all right. Clumsy, an airhead, always quick to misunderstand others, but nevertheless able to touch people's hearts in the most unexpected ways. She had experienced it herself after all. When she first went to Yagami High, she thought she would never make any real friends; but Tenma, Mikoto and Akira had wholeheartedly accepted her regardless of her status or family. Without even realizing it, associating with them had made her a much better person. It was only natural that someone like Tenma could change Hige as well.

"Why are you telling me all this?" she wondered aloud after yet another long pause. "You never talked about yourself before…so why now?"

"Until recently, I was trying to keep a secret that I was the pervert Tsukamoto ran away from," he explained. "But it doesn't matter anymore now, does it? I mean, she's gone…for good." The look in his eyes was an odd mixture of resignation and pain Eri had seen all too often these last few weeks, and it invariably made her heart ache. "Maybe she'll come back one day," she said, instantly regretting her words. _What are you doing getting his hopes up, idiot?_ she berated herself. But Harima merely shook his head. "Even if she does come back, it'll be with Karasuma," he said simply and with finality. "Trust me, I know. Nobody knows her better than I do." He turned his head away and spoke no more.

They stayed like that for a while, lost in their thoughts, until Eri said in a low voice that it was time to leave. They said goodbye to their host and got in the car, and for the better part of the drive they were silent. Shortly before they arrived at Eri's mansion, she lifted up her head and said to him, "Hey…thanks again for coming with me tonight. And…I'm sorry you didn't have such a good time…"

"It wasn't that bad," he replied quietly. "Not a blast, mind you, but it did get my mind off things, at least for a few hours…I suppose I should be thankful for that."

Eri kept looking at him, even though she couldn't make out his face in the darkness. For the first time it occurred to her that in many ways he was different from the Hige she had got to know for the past year. He had changed, and was still changing. And she discovered that she liked the changes she saw unfolding before her eyes. Although she had no idea what the two of them would end up like, she wanted to be there and see where this transition would lead. From up close.

The car came to a halt in front of her house and Eri opened the door without waiting for Nakamura. "Well then, see you. Goodnight." She started to get out, then all of a sudden she impulsively turned again towards him. In the dark, Harima heard a rustle of clothing, and felt the faintest brush of lips against his cheek; the next instant, Eri was out of the car and rushing up the stairs to the entrance as quickly as her feet could carry her. Dumbfounded, he brought his hand to his cheek, unable to make heads or tails out of what had just happened.

Half an hour later he was back in the car again in his own clothes, headed for home. Exhausted, he leaned his head back on the car seat and closed his eyes. The evening had been…eventful, to say the least. A whole lot of new experiences for him, both pleasant and unpleasant. But above everything, it was the memory of Eri's fleeting kiss in the dark that lingered on his mind the most.


	2. Chapter 2 First Day at School

**Chapter 2 – First day at school**

The rest of the spring break passed quickly and soon it was time for the new school year to start. Eri had not seen Harima since that memorable night of the party; there had been no other occasion to warrant asking him out, and he hadn't contacted her at all, buried as he was in his work. She felt at once nervous and excited at the prospect of seeing him again.

The first thing she did as soon as she got to school was to check the notice boards to see which class she was in. There was no way of knowing who she would have as classmates this year, and that caused her a lot of anxiety. She didn't want to be separated from her good friends Mikoto and Akira, who she had been together with all through high school so far. And, although she didn't dare admit it even to herself, she didn't want to end up in a different class from Hige as well.

Arriving at the huge notice boards, she craned her neck and started reading the names written on it with no little trepidation. She found her own name soon enough, listed under class 3-C. Just as she started looking for her friends' and Hige's name, a girl's arm was thrown over her shoulder, and a cheerful voice sounded from behind her.

"Don't worry. You two lovebirds aren't going to be separated." Eri turned around and came face to face with her best friend Suou Mikoto, a tall athletic girl with well-endowed breasts. Next to her stood Takano Akira, her other close friend, calm and composed as usual. Although she wasn't nearly as demonstrative as Mikoto, Eri could tell she was genuinely glad to see her.

"Mikoto! What are you talking about, I wasn't worried about that at all!" exclaimed Eri, always quick to deny she had any feelings for Harima at all. "I was just about to check out if you guys are in the same class as me, that's all!"

"I see. Well, _just in case _you're wondering, Harima is in 3-C as well, and so am I," said Mikoto with a sly smile. Eri's face lit up at this news, but she checked herself immediately and said, "Oh – th-that's good to hear. Well then, please take care of me this year as well." She turned her attention to the notice board once more, browsing through the names on it. "Wait a minute. Where's Akira's name?"

"In class 3-D, I'm afraid," Akira said morosely. "What? No! Why?" cried out Eri, genuinely upset by that turn of events. "I was so looking forward for the three of us to spend our last school year together…" she said plaintively.

"Well, apparently the students with the best grades were streamed in 3-D," said Akira gloomily. "Hanai will be going there too. I don't even get to be rid of him."

"Really? Oh, Mikoto, I'm so sorry…" said Eri, looking at her best friend with concern. "You'll miss him a lot, won't you?"

"What are you saying, Eri? Why would I miss that idiot?" asked Mikoto. She spoke cheerfully, but her friends could tell it was kind of forced. "Besides, I'll still see him at the dojo every day. It's not like I could get him out of my hair that easily."

"If you say so…But really, it's such a pity Akira is in a different class this year. We won't have as much time to hang out together this year with the exams and everything, and now we'll be separated during class too…"

"Well, I don't intend to cut ties with you two just yet," Akira said decisively. "We can still meet up at breaks and after school, you'll see."

"Sure we can," added Mikoto bracingly. "Our friendship isn't that weak after all, right?"

"You're right," agreed Eri, brightening up once again. Then she went on to ask her friends, "What about the others? Who else is in our class this year?"

"Well, outside Akira and Hanai, our class consisted mostly of idiots, so we're pretty much the same as last year," Mikoto informed her. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, Lala was transferred to our class this year. Here she is," she pointed out to a tall, dark-skinned girl in the distance. "Ichijou's group has already adopted her."

It was just as Mikoto said. Lala Gonzalez, a fierce Mexican girl with an amazing talent for wrestling, was currently standing a little further away together with three other girls they knew well. Ichijou Karen, a slim, sweet girl with a braid in her short black hair was talking to her and smiling in a friendly manner. Lala's attitude towards her seemed gruff at first glance, but in reality those two, who had started off as rivals, had become really good friends. Karen was also a wrestling prodigy; she seemed delicate and frail, but her slender body held the strength of many men. Lala always strove to catch up to her, but she also respected her a great deal and was very protective of her. With them were Karen's close friends, Sagano Megumi, a sprightly girl who was fond of basketball, and Yuuki Tsumugi with her customary glasses and braids, the studious one of the group, head of the astronomy club. The four of them seemed to get along quite well; Lala was still reserved and didn't talk much, but she seemed genuinely glad of her present company.

"Well, I'm glad she seems to fit in well with Ichijou and the others," said Eri. She chuckled as a funny thought came to her. "I bet Imadori will go into hiding with both Lala and Ichijou in the same class as him."

"Serves him right, that big breasts maniac," remarked Mikoto, laughing as well. "I could never understand what Ichijou sees in him."

The three of them stayed there a while longer, gossiping and laughing about their classmates. They were totally immersed in conversation, when a male voice sounded behind them. "Yo." It was Harima heading towards them, with Yakumo and Sarah in tow.

"Good morning Sawachika-senpai, Suou-senpai. Takano-senpai, please take care of us this year as well," greeted the two girls in unison while bowing to Akira, their president at the tea ceremony club. Akira, Mikoto and Eri reciprocated their greetings, then Mikoto said loudly, "Hey Harima, take care of us this year as well! Right, Eri?" she added, elbowing her friend. Eri blushed a little and mumbled, "R-right, take care of us this year as well." "Likewise," replied Harima calmly. "I take it we're in the same class this year as well?"

"Yeah, most of us except Akira and Hanai," answered Mikoto readily. "Is that so? Darn, I think I'm going to miss that four-eyes. He'd started to grow on me."

"Yakumo-san! Sarah-chan!" A bunch of girls' voices interrupted the conversation, and three second-year girls came into view walking swiftly towards their group. They were Yakumo and Sarah's three closest friends: lively and athletic Tawaraya Satsuki, founder of the girls' basketball team, feisty Inaba Miki, a self-proclaimed suitor of Hanai's, and calm, sweet Tougou Haruna, Tougou Masakazu's little sister who was fortunately nothing like her idiot brother. They rushed to Yakumo and Sarah and a flurry of greetings ensued among them. "Hey, hey, have you two gone to the second-year's notice boards yet?" asked Satsuki excitedly as soon as the greetings were over.

"No, not yet," replied Sarah. "We came to see which class Harima-senpai got in first."

"Well then come on, let's go!" cried out Miki enthusiastically. "Harima-senpai, you come along as well!" she went on, dragging Harima forcefully by the sleeve of his uniform. Miki was really keen on hooking up Harima with Yakumo, and spared no effort to throw them together.

"Wait up girls, we're coming too!" Mikoto called out. As one, she and Akira grabbed each of Eri's arms and pulled her along. "Hey, wait a second! The second-years' classes have nothing to do with us!" Eri protested.

"Sure they do. Akira needs to know which class her kouhais will end up in, isn't that right, Akira?" "Oh, absolutely," replied Akira. "Hold on, you two! Why do I have to go too…?" Eri kept protesting, but her friends purposely ignored her and made their way towards the second-years' notice boards. Yakumo and the others were already there, excitedly looking for their names.

"Yay! All five of us are in class 2-D!" shouted Satsuki. The five girls wished each other well happily, then started checking out their other classmates. "Are we the same as last year?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah, pretty much," Miki said. "Oh, wait, there's a name I haven't seen before. How does it read…Hi…Hiro…can you make it out, Haruna?"

"I think…it's Hirayama…Yuusei or something," Haruna said. "Doesn't ring a bell to me, has any of you girls heard of it?"

All of them shook their heads. "Could it be a transfer student? That's so exciting! He may be a foreign prince or something!" squealed Miki, all flustered up.

"Now now Miki, don't get carried away just yet," smiled Haruna. "We don't even know if it's a boy or a girl."

"Oh come on! Surely it's a boy, Yuusei is a male name!" "Haruna's right, you know," put in Satsuki. "For all we know, he could be a sleazebag or some ugly otaku."

"Aww, why are you guys doing this? Let me have my fantasy a little longer!" pouted Miki in mock whining. The others started laughing good-naturedly and she soon joined in the laugh, their senpais beside them watching with a smile. But this pleasant scene was soon to be interrupted in the most brutal way.

"There you are, villain!" A man's voice resounded somewhere behind them. They all turned around in surprise, and came face to face with Hanai Haruki, a tall, well-built guy with glasses. Serious and reliable, Hanai excelled both in studies and martial arts, but on the other hand was remarkably dense when it came to certain things, especially Yakumo. He was madly in love with her, and even though she never did anything to encourage him, he kept not only pursuing her but also constantly misunderstanding her relationship with Harima. Undeterred by the surprised looks he received, Hanai advanced towards the group seething with righteous indignation and flanked by two companions even more eye-catching than he was: On his left stood Tougou Masakazu, the self-proclaimed leader of class 3-D and easily one of the most eccentric guys in school. Despite being quite handsome and talented in many things, somehow he always got carried away no matter what he undertook, making everything he participated in unto a regular circus. Small wonder most people in school thought of him as a clown despite his capabilities. On his right was Harry McKenzie, a foreign kid with a name that sounded almost the same as Harima's. That was the extent of the similarity between them, though. Unlike the brusque and intimidating Harima, Harry was a bona fide lady-killer, what with his great looks and impeccable manners. He was really smart, too, but for some reason he always went along with Tougou's hare-brained antics, even though you'd think he would know better than that. Some people thought he did it for the sake of their friendship, but most suspected he got a kick out of pulling crazy stunts with his friend.

"Oh, hey, four-eyes," replied Harima casually, totally brushing off Hanai's dramatic exclamation. By now he was pretty used to this guy throwing tantrums out of the blue. "I hear we're in different classes this year."

Before Hanai had a chance to reply to that, Tougou stepped forward, thumping his chest like Tarzan. "That's right, sir! Hanai-kun is our comrade and brother-in-arms now, and as fellow men we have pledged our fealty and everlasting support to him! We will forever fight alongside him in the name of justice and vanquish all evil!" he declared, gesturing dramatically like some movie hero. Everyone around stared at him wide-eyed, and Haruna buried her face in her hands. "…Onii-chan…not again…"

"…Right…well, good luck with the vanquishing and all that…" said Harima awkwardly, in an obvious attempt to soothe the overexcited Tougou. He half-turned towards the girls again, hoping against hope that if he ignored those three they would just go pester someone else or something. But, as expected, Hanai was not about to let him off that easily.

"Not so fast, you scoundrel! You will not leave here until you have properly explained yourself!" he cried out. Harima drew his eyebrows together and scowled at the comedy trio in front of him; he was beginning to feel seriously irritated about this whole scene. "Four-eyes, I have no idea what you're talking about," he ground out. "If I did something wrong, I'll apologize, but I can't know what the hell I did unless you tell me."

"Don't act all innocent with me, you conniving bastard! This time I witnessed your crime with my own eyes!" yelled Hanai, causing a good many heads to turn towards them. He pointed his finger at Harima with the look of an attorney addressing an infamous criminal and clamored, "How dare you accost Yakumo-kun in front of her own house and force her to walk to school with you!"

Oh, so that's what it was. Because this morning Harima had got ready a bit earlier than Yakumo and Sarah, he waited for them for a short while outside the house before the three of them set off for school. Apparently either Hanai or someone of his newfound friends had seen them together and had drawn the wrong conclusions yet again. Unfortunately, setting the record straight was probably not going to be easy. Harima's current living arrangements certainly left a lot of room for misunderstanding, and he knew from personal experience that a man in love wasn't likely to listen to reason. But before he could figure out how to begin explaining the situation, Inaba Miki suddenly sprang in front of him.

"Kyaa! Hanai-senpai, you're so cool when you're angry!" she exclaimed playfully, latching on to Hanai's arm before he had a chance to withdraw. Hanai went crimson with embarrassment and temporarily forgot his righteous indignation – what if Yakumo-kun thought that he was a playboy? The horror! Completely flustered, he blurted out, "Inaba-kun…I don't think this is appropriate behavior for a young lady of your age…"

"But you know, senpai," went on Miki without paying him any heed, "you've got it all wrong. Harima-senpai did not go to Yakumo-san's house to meet with her, he's staying there himself!"

For a few seconds Hanai looked as though he had a stroke or something. Unable to utter a single word, he just stood there, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Then he exploded – literally.

"WHAAAAAT?" he roared, clouds of steam escaping from his ears. "D-d-does that mean that…you and Yakumo-kun…are _l-living together_?" he sputtered, purple with rage.

"Yes, that's right, senpai," put in Sarah, directing a beatific smile at the livid Hanai. "Yakumo and I were afraid to live all on our own after Tsukamoto-senpai left, and since Harima-senpai needed a place to stay, we asked him to come live with us and protect us from danger. So now, we're in his care."

"What do you mean, you're in his care?" cried out Hanai, bursting with anger. "This is preposterous! He's the one you're in danger from!" "Now wait just a minute…" Harima started saying, affronted, but before he could finish his sentence, Tougou butted in again.

"Of course, Hanai-kun is right! As men of honor and integrity, we will not stand for this! It is our sacred duty to protect the fair maidens of our school from the clutches of evil perverts!"

Harima's face darkened even further as he felt the end of his patience approaching fast. He, too, had tasted the pain of unrequited love and thus he was able to sympathize with Hanai, but he was not about to tolerate being called a pervert in front of the entire school! "You know, I've just about had it with you idiots…" he said menacingly, cracking his knuckles, and took a step towards them. Inwardly, he knew this was a bad idea; those three might be fools, but each of them was strong enough to hold his own against him. There was no way he could take on all three of them, but he was too stubborn and proud to back down.

A little further off, two teachers, one male, one female, were watching the scene attentively. "Th-this looks bad, Osakabe-sensei," said the male teacher, a small, meek-looking man with glasses, to the tall, black-haired woman next to him. "I think we should step in and break them up before things get out of control."

Cool, beautiful Osakabe Itoko, homeroom teacher for class 2-D and also Harima's elder cousin, swished her black hair and gave her colleague a reassuring smile. "You worry too much, Tani-sensei," she said with confidence. "I believe we can leave it to these girls; they seem to have the situation well in hand."

Tani Hayato, homeroom teacher for class 3-C, cast her a doubtful look; he knew all these kids very well, and while he was quite fond of them, he was well aware they could be real troublemakers at times. Then he looked back towards the children again, and his eyes widened in surprise. Osakabe-sensei was right; fed up with the boys' immature behavior, Akira, Mikoto and Eri decided it was high time they took matters into their own hands.

Mikoto was the one to move first; with swift steps she approached her childhood friend, and without a word of warning, threw him over her shoulder with a perfectly executed aikido grip. "Really, Hanai! An honor student like you embarrassing himself like this!" she shouted indignantly. "B-but, Miko-chan…" "Don't call me that, idiot!" At the same time, Akira slipped silently behind Tougou and Harry, and whipping two pistols out of her school bag, she held them under their chins. "Hands up, boys," she said in a manner that would have made any yakuza in the country envious. Tougou and Harry's faces turned several interesting shades of color before finally settling on a sickly green. "Y-you're not scaring us with these toys, Takano-san," said Harry in a vain attempt to put on a brave front, the tremor in his voice belying his words. "There's no way you would bring real guns to school." Akira, however, merely smiled coolly. "Wanna bet on it?" she asked. Tougou and Harry exchanged a look, and unanimously decided not to risk it. Slowly, they put their trembling hands in the air.

Meanwhile Eri was successfully negotiating peace at the other end, by delivering a powerful kick to Harima's shin. "Oww! What the…" he tried to protest, only to be kicked again. "That's enough out of you, Hige! Remember your record! I will NOT have you getting into fights on the first day at school!" thundered Eri, her golden eyes blazing furiously. "Ugh…" Harima's shoulders slumped with defeat. Damn, but that woman was scary! He had faced down some mighty tough delinquents in his time, but when Ojou got angry she was worse than the lot of them combined.

"The bell will ring soon," said Akira with such composure you'd think she held her classmates at gun point on a daily basis. "We'd better head to the gymnasium for the opening ceremony." She turned towards the second-year girls who were gazing at her in awe. "Yakumo, Sarah, I expect you at the club room after classes are over today." Yakumo and Sarah nodded obediently, and Akira turned back and headed towards the gymnasium, leading the quivering Tougou and Harry in front of her. Mikoto and Eri followed, dragging Hanai and Harima behind them like potato sacks.

Left behind, the second-year girls stared at their departing senpais with open admiration. "Wow," exclaimed Satsuki, "how awesome was that? Our senpais are amazing! Suou-senpai threw over that huge Hanai-senpai like it was nothing! And Takano-senpai was so cool! Just like a gangster from a movie! I hope you don't mind my saying this, Haruna," she added, turning towards her friend, "I mean, it's your Onii-chan and all, but…" "Nah, I don't mind at all," said Haruna with a smile. "I think he deserved it."

"Oh, and what about Sawachika-senpai!" carried on Miki enthusiastically. "Harima-senpai is so tough, and yet she made him submit just like that! You have your work cut out for you, Yakumo-san," she added, wagging a finger at her friend. Yakumo blushed beet red and murmured, "…Inaba-san…I've told you, it's not like that…" Fortunately, Sarah came to her rescue.

"Girls, girls! The bell's going to ring any minute now, let's get going!" The five girls left hurriedly for the gymnasium, under the watchful eyes of the two teachers who were still looking in their direction.

"There, you see? All is well," Osakabe-sensei said to her colleague nonchalantly. Tani-sensei, however, was still staring at the notice boards in shock and muttering "…G-guns…Takano-san pulled out guns…"

"Oh, come on, it's not your problem anyway. You're not her homeroom teacher anymore," pointed out Osakabe-sensei reasonably, and gave him a slight nudge. "Let us go inside too; we don't want to be late for the opening ceremony." Without waiting for an answer, she headed towards the school building, with the dazed Tani-sensei trailing behind her. As she walked, a small smile was playing on her lips, and she muttered under her breath, "Well, would you look at that. Seems like my stupid cousin found someone who can handle him after all."

None of them noticed a boy in a second-year uniform standing some distance behind them, a boy with light brown hair and clear green eyes, transparent like the waters of a lake. When everybody was gone, he walked up to the notice boards, found his name on them and gave a satisfied smile. "So this is Yagami High," he whispered to himself. "Looks like nee-sama was right. This school year is going to be a lot of fun."

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The opening ceremony had ended, and the students were assembled in their classrooms, waiting for homeroom to begin. Osakabe Itoko entered class 2-D and ascended to her desk. As always, her commanding presence was enough to stifle the students' chatter at once. Clearing her throat, she started with the customary start-of-the-year speech.

"I am pleased to inform you that I will be your homeroom teacher again this year," she announced. "I sincerely hope we will have a happy and productive school year together. Before we start roll call, however, I would like to announce that there will be a new student joining us this year. His name," she took a piece of chalk and started writing on the blackboard, "is Hirayama Yuusei-kun. I expect you will all welcome him and get along with him. Hirayama-kun," she called, "come on in and introduce yourself to the class."

The door opened and a slender boy walked in. He had soft, light brown hair and clear green eyes, transparent like the waters of a lake. At Osakabe-sensei's beck, he walked up next to the teacher's desk and looked straight at the class in front of him. "Hirayama-kun," said Osakabe-sensei, "if you'd like, introduce yourself to your classmates and tell us a bit about yourself."

The young man bowed to the rest of the class and said in a low, clear voice, "My name is Hirayama Yuusei. Nice to meet all of you." "…Well, that's it, I suppose," Osakabe-sensei said when it became clear he was not going to say anything further. "Your desk is over there; please be seated." Hirayama-kun nodded and headed towards his desk, with an aloof expression on his face. His new classmates started exchanging whispered comments all around him; he had left them with conflicting impressions. His face was certainly very handsome, but he seemed rather unsociable.

Osakabe-sensei then proceeded to take roll call. When she reached Yakumo's name, Yakumo put up her hand and answered with a stiff expression on her face. She was feeling quite stressed; as expected, when her male classmates hadn't seen her for a while they tended to notice her more on the first few days, and consequently she could sense a lot more of their thoughts – perverted and otherwise. As a result, she became even more uncomfortable than usual. As soon as she answered roll call, she concentrated on shutting out the annoying thoughts, when suddenly she felt a change. She looked to her right, and saw the transfer student's eyes trained on her, staring at her from across the room. Yakumo let out a sigh of frustration. Of course, there was no reason to expect him to be any different than the rest. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and braced herself against the inevitable volley of perverted thoughts. A moment later she opened them again, blinking in confusion. That was odd. There were thoughts coming from him; she could definitely feel them, but the only thing she could pick up was…

"…Static…?"

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"Static? What do you mean, static?"

Sarah looked up curiously from her bento box and into her best friend's troubled eyes. It was just the two of them at the moment, having lunch on the rooftop. Satsuki had some club issues to take care of, and Miki and Haruna who were on day duty had been called out by Osakabe-sensei to help with something. Which was a good thing at the moment; Sarah was the only one who knew about Yakumo's special ability, and Yakumo wanted to discuss her strange experience with her as soon as possible.

"…I don't know how else to describe it," Yakumo said perplexedly. "It's the only thing that I pick up from him."

"Are you saying, then, that he's like Harima-senpai whose thoughts you can't read?"

"No, it's not the same," Yakumo shook her head. "In Harima-san's case, I can't sense _any _thoughts coming from him. In Hirayama-kun's case, I can sense there _are _thoughts, but something's stopping me from reading them."

"You mean, like something is jamming the signal?"

"I think that's a good enough analogy," said Yakumo thoughtfully. "Weird, isn't it?"

"Well, there are all sorts of things in God's world," Sarah said soberly, crossing herself. "I mean, you too have quite a unique ability; maybe that's also the case with Hirayama-kun."

"What about Hirayama-kun?" Miki's voice asked behind them. Yakumo and Sarah turned around and saw their friends making their way towards them. Sarah giggled awkwardly; she didn't like keeping things from her friends, but on the other hand she had to protect Yakumo's secret. "We were just saying that he seems pretty interesting, that's all," she replied.

"Doesn't he?" said Satsuki, as the three girls settled down beside them. "And quite a looker too…although not my type," she admitted. "I hear that half the girls in class are smitten with him, but they're afraid to get close to him; he seems so cold and distant." Suddenly she cocked her head as a thought occurred to her. "Don't tell me you like him too, Yakumo-san?" she asked.

Before Yakumo had the chance to say anything, Miki cut in, laughing. "Oh come on, Sa-chan, you know that Yakumo-san has Harima-senpai!" she said. "Although," she carried on with her customary enthusiasm, "it might be a good idea to use him to make Harima-senpai jealous! It works in shoujo manga all the time," she went on, striking a dramatic pose. "The hero realizes his feelings for the heroine when he sees another guy fall in love with her."

"Miki," said Haruna in mild reproach, "it's not very nice to use other people like this. You have to consider their feelings as well." "That's right," added Satsuki. "Real life is not the same as manga."

"Hmm, I suppose you're right…too bad though, it was such a good idea…" sulked Miki. Then they moved on to other subjects while finishing with their lunch. When they were done, Sarah said,

"I'd like to go to the washroom before class starts; are you coming with me, Yakumo?" Just as she expected, her friend nodded and the two girls separated from their friends and headed for the washroom. When they were out of earshot, Sarah turned towards Yakumo and said,

"You know, I think Inaba-san's idea wasn't so bad after all."

Yakumo stopped in her tracks and stared at her in astonishment. "Wh…what do you mean by that?"

"Just hear me out," Sarah said seriously. "The reason you can't hang out with guys is that you read their thoughts and they make you uncomfortable, right? But if you can't read Hirayama-kun's thoughts, then you can probably hang out with him without too much discomfort."

"But…I don't even know him…why would I want to do that?"

"Like Sa-chan said, life is not the same as a manga, but it's not all that different either," Sarah said. "Until now, Harima-senpai has never seen you in the company of other guys. And there hasn't been any progress in his feelings for you either, even though Tsukamoto-senpai left and you two are living under one roof. I think it's time to give him a little push."

Yakumo blushed, understanding what her friend meant. "But…what Tougou-san said is right too…it's wrong to play around with other people's feelings," she objected.

"Don't get me wrong here," Sarah said. "I'm not suggesting you make Hirayama-kun your boyfriend or lead him on. Just that you try to get to know him and spend some time with him, as you would with a female friend. Harima-senpai seems like the possessive type; if he does have feelings for you, we might get a reaction out of him. Besides, I think it will be good for you to get used to being around men. You can't remain terrified of them for the rest of your life."

Sarah was right, admitted Yakumo inwardly; one way or another, eventually she'd have to deal with her problem once she finished school and went out into the world. Wherever she went, there would be men nearby, so she might as well make an effort to get used to them. But she was completely unaccustomed to this; she didn't even know how to go about approaching a man. "I…how am I even going to do this?" she wondered aloud. "How can I ask of a man to be friends?"

"We'll think of something," Sarah reassured her. "There are so many school events – one way or another, we'll find some pretext to make contact with him without him reading too much into it. And don't worry about being left alone with him or anything either. I'll be beside you every step of the way; I promise I'll never let you feel unsafe. Unless you tell me otherwise, I'm never going to let you out of my sight, okay?"

"Okay," said Yakumo, squeezing her friend's hand. Never in her life had she imagined that one day she would have the courage to actually seek out a man's company, but with Sarah by her side she felt she just might be able to do it. Nevertheless, she was still at a loss how to find a way to establish contact with a person she did not know at all.

But as it turned out, they did not have to find a way to approach Hirayama-kun after all. When they returned to the classroom, Yakumo had barely sat at her desk when she saw the transfer student get up and purposely make his way towards her. Of course, she was not the only one to see this; all around the classroom, her classmates stared in astonishment at this unexpected move, but he did not pay any attention to them. Oblivious to the surprised stares directed at him, Hirayama-kun headed straight for Yakumo's desk and looked down at her. "You are Tsukamoto Yakumo-san, right?" he asked in his low, clear voice. Once again, Yakumo could sense thoughts coming from him, but she could not read them at all. "Y-yes," she said timidly.

Hirayama-kun pulled an envelope out of his uniform pocket and handed it to her. "This is for you," he said. "I hope you don't mind my saying this, but you should answer as soon as possible." Without another word, he turned around and headed back to his desk, ignoring completely the ruckus his action had caused.

The whole classroom was in an uproar, whispered comments darting right and left. "Did you see that? The transfer student gave Tsukamoto-san a love letter!" "No way! On his first day here?" "That bastard, who does he think he is? I've been in love with Tsukamoto-san for two years now!" "And she's shot you down five times, in case you forgot." "It doesn't matter! How can I let some stranger snatch her away!" Such were the remarks on the boys' side, while the girls on the other hand all but squealed with excitement: "Ooh, so Hirayama-kun isn't cold after all! He's giving us the cold shoulder because he's in love with Tsukamoto-san!" "Well, if it's Tsukamoto-san, we might as well give up. There's no way we can measure up to her." "You don't know that, maybe she'll reject him and then we'll have a chance!" When Tani-sensei walked in for the afternoon English lesson, he was surprised to see that the usually well-behaved class 2-D was in complete chaos. With great difficulty he managed to quiet the students down sufficiently for the lesson to begin. However, even then most of them did not pay any attention, but kept on chattering in hushed voices. As for Sarah and the rest of Yakumo's friends, they were just as astonished about all this as everyone else. Not knowing what to make of it, they just kept staring at their friend, waiting for her reaction.

But Yakumo did not see or hear any of this. At first she, too, was shocked by Hirayama-kun's gesture; but as soon as she took one look at the envelope he'd given her, every other thought fled her head. For the handwriting on the envelope of the purported love letter was none other than her own sister's.

The lesson was well under way now, not that anyone paid any attention to it. Virtually every student's eyes were riveted on Yakumo, but she was quite unaware of it, her whole attention directed at the letter on her desk. She wanted to open it so badly…it was weeks since she had last heard of her sister, and she missed her terribly. She was really impatient to learn her news, to find out whether she was well and happy. She was in the middle of class, but… Furtively, she looked up; Tani-sensei was writing on the blackboard at the moment, and had his back turned towards the students. Yakumo quickly made up her mind. If it were Osakabe-sensei or the overly strict Katou-sensei, she might not risk it; but Tani-sensei was rather lenient, even if she got caught he would probably let her off easily. Besides, she was one of the top students in the school; she could afford to break the school rules for once, she reasoned. Decisively, she tore the envelope open and unfolded her sister's letter, her eyes devouring the long-awaited words. Tenma's letter read:

'My dearest Yakumo,

I hope my letter finds you in good health. You must have started your new school year by now; I can't believe my little sister is now a second-year high school student! I'm always thinking about you, and it pains me that I'm so far away from you now, but at least I can take comfort in knowing that you have Sarah-chan and your friends to look after you. You are always reliable and you never complain, Yakumo, but I would never be able to rest easy if you were all alone. I would be even happier to hear that you are together with someone you love, so hurry up and make some progress with Harima-kun! Your big sister worries, you know!

Here things are about the same as I've told you in my previous letters. The lessons are really difficult, especially English; how I wish I had Eri-chan and the other girls here to tutor me! But it can't be helped; I'm on my own now, and I have to make do with my own power alone. If I study and study and study again, even an idiot like me will eventually get somewhere, so I'm going to give it my all. In my free time I'm almost always at the hospital, taking care of Karasuma-kun. His condition is pretty much the same, but that is to be expected; the doctors say that it will probably be some time before there is any change. So I do not despair; now that I've made up my mind to be with him, I'm determined to wait for as long as it takes. He'll come back to me one day, I'm sure of it. My love will bring him back.

By the way, I met Hirayama-kun who brought you this letter here in America. I've only known him for a short while, but I think he's a pretty good boy. He'll be a student in our school for the next year, so it would be nice if you got along with him. Be careful, though; you don't want to make Harima-kun jealous!

With all my love,

Your sister, Tenma'

Yakumo read the letter again and again, her chest tight with emotions. _…Nee-san…I miss you so much, but it's so good to know that you're happy…_ In every line, Yakumo could discern Tenma's courage and optimism, as well as a steadiness that she didn't even know her sister had. Her usually impassive face had lit up with happiness for her beloved sister, and she kept gazing at the letter fondly, completely engrossed and unaware of what went on around her.

Naturally, with practically every student in class staring at her, her actions did not go unnoticed. "Look, look! Tsukamoto-san is opening the transfer student's love letter!" "What, she couldn't even wait till after class to read it? Don't tell me she was looking forward to it?" "See, she's reading it now…oh my gosh, she's smiling!" "And blushing, too! I can't believe it!" "What could that bastard have written to make her so happy?" "It's not fair! I've written her three love letters so far, and she still turned me down!" Quite a few boys started to look in Hirayama-kun's direction with open hostility, but he did not seem to take any notice of it. Once the lessons ended, he picked up his things and walked out of the classroom without so much as a backward glance. On his way out, several feet were stretched so that he would trip over them, but even though he never once looked down he somehow managed to skip over all of them and get out of the classroom safely. Without a doubt, Hirayama-kun seemed to be a person of unusual abilities.

SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR

"Ha-ha, so that's what it was," Sarah laughed while on her way home with Yakumo. "You had me there for a second, Yakumo. Of course there is no way Hirayama-kun would write you a love letter on the very day he met you, but frankly I didn't know what else to think. Although I should have known the only person you would be so happy to get a letter from would be your sister."

"Do you think we should tell the others in class about this?" asked Yakumo. "Such a misunderstanding might cause problems for Hirayama-kun…" She had noticed the attempts to bully Hirayama-kun, and she felt guilty for unwittingly causing him trouble.

"If it gets serious, we will," said Sarah. "But I think the excitement will die down soon enough…and besides, he seemed quite capable of defending himself. By the way, where did Tsukamoto-senpai know him from? She must think very highly of him if she entrusted him with a letter to you."

"In her letter, Nee-san said only that she met him not long ago in America and that she hopes I get along with him," answered Yakumo. "Should I…ask him about it, I wonder?"

"Of course you should; we were looking for a way to approach him anyway, right? And besides, if he is acquainted with your sister, he might be able to tell you more about her life in America," Sarah said. Yakumo's eyes lit up at this; she certainly wished to hear more about her sister, and she was also curious to know what kind of connection Hirayama-kun had with her. She would be really glad to have someone she could talk about her sister with; her friends, the senpais, she could not meet quite as often now that Tenma was gone, and with Harima-san she purposely avoided the subject, as she did not wish to cause him any more pain. She decided that, as soon as time permitted, she would definitely ask Hirayama-kun about it.

Harima was already there when they arrived home, doing housework. Since he did not have club activities, he usually arrived before them. "Welcome home," he greeted them as soon as they stepped in. "How was your day?"

"We're home." Yakumo was hesitating whether she should tell him what had transpired today, but before she could come to a decision, Sarah had already forestalled her. "You'll never guess what happened, Harima-senpai. There was this new transfer student in our class, Hirayama-kun, and he brought Yakumo a letter from Tsukamoto-senpai!"

Harima raised his eyebrows at the news, but otherwise he seemed to take it quite calmly. "So, Tsukamoto has friends in America now, too," he said. "Did she meet this guy at school or something?"

"Nee-san didn't say where she met Hirayama-kun," Yakumo said. She paused for a moment, and then added, "I would like to ask him about it directly."

"Sure, I don't see why not," Harima said composedly. "Normally I'd tell you to be careful around men you don't know, but if Tsukamoto trusts him he should probably be all right."

Without any further comments, he finished with the clothes he was folding and got up to take them to his room. Just before he was out the door, he turned his head and asked, "Your sister…is she in good health?"

"Yes," replied Yakumo. "She seems…to be quite healthy and happy." "That's good, then," he said quietly, with a complex look on his face, and then turned around and walked out of the room.

"Well, that's not much of a reaction, but it's still too early to tell," remarked Sarah. Yakumo stared at her thoughtfully; she pretty much expected this, but what she did not expect was that she was not quite as disappointed about it as she thought she would be.


	3. Chapter 3 Study Session

**Chapter 3 – Study Session**

Harima was sitting a little further apart from the other boys on the sidelines of the basketball court, absent-mindedly watching the girls who were playing basketball. Classes 3-C and 3-D were having PE, and as usually during the first half the girls played and the boys supposedly did stretching exercises, and during the second half the girls sat down and the boys could use the court. However, the stretching exercises were done soon, and now most of the boys passed their time by ogling the girls and exchanging comments about certain parts of the female anatomy that were more visible than usual in the gym outfits.

Harima wasn't inclined to take part in this kind of conversation, so he had sat by himself a little further off. He was trying to think up dialogues for his manga, but somehow he was having difficulty concentrating. Every so often, his eyes wandered towards the girls before him; well, actually one girl in particular. He furrowed his brow and shut his eyes tightly for a few seconds in an attempt to focus on his work, but it was no use. Mere seconds after he opened his eyes again he found them straying in Ojou's direction once more.

Ever since that night of the party, for some reason he was more conscious of her than he was before. He did not like it one bit, but the fact remained that he caught himself looking at her more than before, and what's more, noticing things that until then had completely escaped his attention. Like, for example, that she had a healthy, perfectly proportioned body and a strong, graceful figure, or how her eyes sparkled excitedly when she was faced with a challenge, like now. Even in a simple PE practice game such as this, Eri played to win. Harima watched her charge in with the ball, jump high for a shot or call out to her teammates, and he felt…something stirring inside him, something that made him at once uneasy and apprehensive. He didn't want this, not now; he wasn't ready to go through this kind of trouble again, not by a long shot. Now was the time for recovering and focusing on his long-neglected future, not for being led around by his lower half. Especially since tonight, he'd have to… _Geez, get your mind out of the gutter, man, _ he berated himself in frustration and started, for the tenth time today, to plan out the dialogues for his upcoming chapter.

A few seats away from him, Suga Ryuuhei watched his friend Asou Hiroyoshi making his way towards him. Asou came over and flopped on the seat next to Suga's, sighing irritably. "Aw, man, this sucks," he complained. "Everyone I asked wants to just pass the ball around, nobody's interested in actually playing a match." "Seriously? Damn, and here I thought we could have a little warming-up today before our upcoming practice match with the club…Are you sure there's no chance we can convince them?"

"You can forget finding eight more guys for a full match, that's for sure," Asou said sullenly. "How about we play a one-on-one, then?" Suga asked. "That's no good; to practice passes and screening, we need a three-on-three at least," replied Asou. "A three-on-three, eh? Then we need just four more guys…maybe we shouldn't give up yet." "But I already asked around, and no one seems to be interested…" Asou said. Suga thought for a second, and then gave a sly smile. "Maybe you didn't give them the right motive. Wait here." He cast his eyes about, then got up and headed towards Tanaka. "Hey Tanaka, wanna play a three-on-three match with me and Asou?" he asked "Oh, I don't know…I'm not that good at basketball…" Tanaka said reluctantly. "Oh, come on," Suga said with a winning smile, pointing towards Tanaka's girlfriend, Nagayama-san. "Don't you want Nagayama-san to cheer for you?" Tanaka blushed a little and said with a goofy smile, "Oh – well, on second thought, a match doesn't sound so bad…" "Good, we're counting on you, then," Suga said and headed back with him towards Asou, giving him the thumbs up. "One down, three to go," he said, grinning.

"You know, I think you're on to something here, Suga," Asou said approvingly. He looked around a bit and got up in turn, approaching Umezou Shigeo. Umezou seemed a bit down again these days; he was worried about his girlfriend, Kido Madoka. He wanted to believe she really did love him, but he caught her hanging out with other guys, college students and such, far too often for his peace of mind.

"Umezou, how about playing a three-on-three match during our practice?" he asked. Umezou gave him a somewhat miserable look and got ready to talk his way out of it, when Asou went on, "You know, I think Kido-san would think better of you if she saw you could hold your own against two guys of the basketball club…"

"Really?" Umezou perked up visibly at Asou's words. "Well…I guess it can't hurt to try…" Having thus secured one more player, Asou went back to his friend. "Two more."

"And here's another one. Hey, Fuyuki! Get your butt over here, you're playing a match with us!" Suga called out, grabbing Fuyuki Takeichi who was sitting nearby and pulling him in forcefully with the others. "What? Oh, no, no! I need to take some more pictures of the girls!" protested Fuyuki. "No you don't. The girls will be sitting down while we play, so you won't get any good pictures anyway. Besides, a good photographer also needs stamina," Suga said decisively, dragging poor Fuyuki over to where the other players were assembled. "Now we need just one more."

"How about Imadori? He looks pretty free to me," Tanaka said, taking a look at a blond, laid-back guy who was sitting a few seats away from them, his eyes glued on the girls. Even from a distance, the boys could hear him muttering under his breath, "…70-A…70-B…75-C…75-B…ah, 85-D, Miko-chin's are always the best…"

Asou rolled his eyes in disgust. "Nah, Imadori's no good," he said. "He'll probably walk off and leave us hanging the minute he sees a pair of big breasts passing by."

He and Suga looked around again for another potential team player; now that they only needed one more, they felt it would be a real shame if they could not get to play their match. "Say, how about Harima?" Suga asked, pointing at their tall classmate who was sitting on his own.

"But…isn't he kind of scary?" Fuyuki asked hesitantly. "Nonsense," replied Asou. "He participated in every school event last year, and even stood up for us against these foreigners on the field trip. You're right, Suga, I should go and ask him," and he set off decisively in Harima's direction.

What he had said was true – he did not find Harima quite as hostile as before, perhaps because without those sunglasses he could now see the expression in his eyes, although he still exuded that unmistakable 'don't mess with me' aura. Harima seemed to be lost in thought and did not notice his approach, so Asou tapped him gently on the shoulder. "Hey Harima, you interested in playing a three-on-three with me and the guys?" he asked, pointing to the other assembled players. Harima didn't think about it too much; a bit of exercise would help him clear his mind and most importantly drive away certain annoying thoughts. "Sure, why not," he said and got up, stretching his muscular body, and made his way together with Asou back to the rest.

"All right then, let's decide on the teams," Suga said. "How about me and Asou and Harima against the three of you…" "No way!" Umezou protested. "You guys are in the basketball club, and Harima's the tallest one here. If you're all together, we won't even have a chance!" "He's right, Suga," Asou agreed. "The teams need to be more balanced." "But Asou, how are we going to practice passes if we're not on the same team?" Suga asked. "Hmm," Asou thought for a minute. "All right, how about this. Suga and I will take Fuyuki, who's the weakest one, and Umezou and Tanaka will team up with Harima, what do you guys think?"

The others agreed and just then, the PE teacher blew his whistle, signaling for the girls to sit down and the boys to take the court. Eri and Mikoto went to sit on the sidelines with the other girls. From the far end of the court, Akira left her classmates from 3-D and came to sit together with her friends. "How was PE?" she asked.

"Not bad, not bad! It's a pity you didn't join the girls' basketball team last year, Eri, you're pretty good at this," Mikoto said, turning to her friend. "Well, you know how it is, I have so many obligations," sighed Eri. "Besides, you quit too…"

"Yeah, I would never find the time this year, what with aikido practice and studying for college entrance exams," agreed Mikoto. "Especially now, when midterms are just around the corner…I can't believe how fast time went by this year. To think we're starting midterms next week…"

"Well, at least it's summer vacation after that," remarked Eri. "I know…I just wish I had studied a bit more. This year's lessons were especially difficult."

"That's why we're having the study session tonight, isn't it?" put in Akira. "Well…maybe not just for that," Mikoto said with a mischievous smirk, directing a sidelong glance at Eri. "I don't know what you're talking about, Mikoto," her friend responded in a huff. "It was only to help each other out that we agreed on this."

This study session had been decided on two days ago, during lunch break. Mikoto and Eri were having lunch in the classroom and as usually, Akira had come to join them. Just like she had promised, Akira spent every minute of her breaks with her friends, and sometimes even remained in class 3-C during lessons as well. When her homeroom teacher, the uptight Katou-sensei had tried to scold her about it, she had replied with her customary sangfroid that as long as she attended school regularly and her grades remained on top, it did not matter which class she attended her lessons in. Katou-sensei had not been able to counter this argument, and defeated by her undaunted attitude he had allowed her to do as she pleased.

The three girls were eating their lunch chattering away, when suddenly Mikoto heard a pained groan coming from the neighbouring seat. It was Harima, who was seated next to Eri and her; at the start of the year, Mikoto had contrived successfully to obtain two seats next to his for her friend and herself (she knew that Eri would never agree to sit next to Harima on her own). Cautiously, she stole a glance in his direction and saw him sighing and glaring at his school books as if he held a personal grudge against them.

"Hey Harima, what's bugging you?" she asked with her usual cheerfulness. "You've been sighing like a steam engine."

"Oh, Suou," he looked up at her. "It's nothing really; I just wish I could make any sense at all out of those things." He gave his books another angry glare.

"Well, that's new," remarked Eri curiously. "I don't think I've ever seen you worried about exams before."

"The thing is, I absolutely need to pass midterms if I'm to graduate from high school," he explained. "Does it matter that much if you don't graduate from high school?" asked Akira. "You are already working as a mangaka anyway, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but…you see, I've been thinking about going to college," he informed them. "College?" asked Eri, somewhat surprised. "What about your work?"

"Oh, I'm not quitting that either," he hastened to assure them. "But during spring break, my editor suggested there's this art college I could try going to – N college. Totally fifth-rate, but apparently it has a decent arts department. My editor said many good manga artists graduated from it, and that I might improve my drawing if I go there, so I thought I might as well give it a try."

"What about tuition? And requirements?" Akira asked, practical as always. "Tuition's not much," Harima answered. "Like I said, it's not some bigshot college. I should probably be able to manage with what I make from the manga and a part-time job or two. And it doesn't have entrance exams; all I need is to graduate from high school with a good grade in arts."

"Doesn't sound too bad," Mikoto agreed. "So all you have to do is get passing grades in midterms and you're pretty much set."

"Yeah, but that's easier said than done," he sighed again. "I've been so into work these past months that I haven't paid any attention in class – not that it would do me any good if I did, I never could get the hang of these things anyway. The way my grades are now, if I don't pass midterms I'll probably flunk…and I don't even know where to begin studying."

"Well, what are your weakest subjects?" asked Eri. "Let's see…that would be probably Japanese, math and English," he said after a bit of thought. "I think I'll be able to scrape through the rest, but with these three I'm just hopeless."

"I see," Mikoto said. She paused and thought for a moment, and then her face lit up. "I know…why don't we have a study session then?"

"Study session? You mean, the four of us?"

"Yes," Mikoto said. "It would work just fine, you know; Eri can teach you English, I can help you out with Japanese, and Akira can show you math. And while we're at it, we'll help each other out too; I sure could use some tutoring in English, and Eri is not that good in Japanese. Akira of course doesn't need help with studying, but…" "Oh, it doesn't matter," said Akira. "Studying with friends is more fun anyway."

"That would be a big help…thanks," he said gratefully. "Okay, it's settled then," Mikoto went on. "Now we must arrange the time and place. Midterms start next week, so we should have the session sometime this week." She turned expectantly towards Akira, who was the busiest one of them with the tea ceremony club and her mysterious part-time jobs.

"I will be free the day after tomorrow," said Akira. "Does that suit you?" When the others nodded, Mikoto spoke up again. "As for the place…we should probably gather in a house, the library closes early and we won't have much time. How about your place, Harima?" The previous year they always gathered at Tenma's when they wanted to study together.

But Harima shook his head. "I don't think we can," he said. "Imouto-san and Sarah-chan also have midterms coming up, and they were saying their friends are coming over to study on that day too."

"Oh, you're right, we won't get any studying done if there's too many people around," Mikoto said, evidently disappointed. "The thing is, we can't gather at my place either; my dad's company has undertaken a big construction, and there are a whole lot of workers staying in the house. We won't be able to get a moment's peace."

"And my place is too small, especially with my family around," added Akira. The two of them then turned expectantly towards Eri, who of course understood at once where this was going. Seeing there was no way around it, she sighed and said reluctantly, "Well…I guess that leaves my place then. So, the day after tomorrow when classes are over, right?" Everyone agreed, and with that lunch break ended. Inwardly, Eri was happy she'd get to see Hige outside school, even if it was just for studying. What with his work and everything, she never saw him at all except in class. But, as always, she refused to admit it; and she might even have backed out of the appointment had she noticed Mikoto and Akira wink at each other while her back was turned.

Now, during PE, she tried valiantly to weather her friends' teasing without showing too much embarrassment. It didn't help that every now and again she would catch herself staring at him playing, and, well…no matter how many times she told herself it was shameful to dwell on such things, the fact remained that she liked what she saw – a lot. It was probably no use trying to hide it from Mikoto and Akira who knew her so well, but she hoped that at the very least Hige wouldn't notice. Sometimes it was such a relief that he was so dense.

"Uh-oh," Akira suddenly said, interrupting Eri's thoughts. "Idiot squad, twelve o'clock."

Eri and Mikoto looked up and saw Hanai, Tougou and Harry marching towards Harima and the others, their chests puffed as though they were the three musketeers or something. This time, however, it wasn't just the three of them; behind them followed two more boys from 3-D with all the eagerness of convicts ascending to the gallows.

Despite all the fanfare, the boys from 3-C didn't take any notice of them, engrossed as they were in playing their game. However, they could no longer ignore their invasion when the flamboyant group stepped smack in the middle of the half-court they were occupying. Tougou came forward with his customary high-faluting attitude and declared pompously, "We have come to issue a challenge!"

"Eh?" Asou and the others stopped playing and stared at the newcomers dumbfounded. "We have not forgotten Hanai-kun's unresolved fight with you, Harima-kun! It has been decided that we shall settle this dispute and stake our honour on a fair game of basketball!" _By who? I only heard about this now!_ Harima thought in frustration. Seriously, these guys just didn't know when to quit. Whatever, though; he wasn't in such a good mood these days, and battling it out with four-eyes always made him feel better, especially when he won. He might not be a delinquent anymore, but he still loved a good fight.

"Harima…just what are these guys talking about?" Asou asked, baffled. "Beats me, Asou, but I'm pretty sure they won't leave us alone unless we wipe the floor with them," he answered, his eyes already gleaming in anticipation of the fight. "What do you say, shall we take them on?"

Asou and Suga nodded eagerly at once; it seemed like they were getting their full match after all. "Fine by me," Asou said. "But there are six of us, so one has to step down."

"Ah, that would be me," Fuyuki said immediately. "This whole affair is getting a bit too macho for me…besides, now I have a chance to take some good pictures."

"I thought you didn't take pictures of guys," Suga said curiously. "Oh, I do when they sell well," Fuyuki answered with an enigmatic smile, and rushed off to get his precious camera.

"All right then, you're on," Asou said to Tougou and the others. "Give us a minute to plan our strategy, and then we're starting."

"Ha! Whatever tricks you use, you can never beat our valour and determination!" Tougou exclaimed, striking a fighting pose. He then clapped Hanai on the shoulder. "Hanai-kun has been training almost every day since school started just for this day!"

Asou gave him a look as though he were seriously worried over his mental health, and returned to consult with his teammates. Up on the sidelines, Eri and Akira were watching the scene curiously, while Mikoto looked like she urgently needed to find a hole she could crawl into. "…So _that's _where that idiot has been disappearing to all this time…" she moaned. "I can't believe he would go so far."

"Well, at least they're not fighting for real; it's just a basketball game," Eri tried to console her. "If you ask me, we might as well let them have it out and be done with it."

"I agree," put in Akira. "Sometimes men just need to clear the air by fighting, and there's simply nothing we can do about it."

"Ah, you're right," sighed Mikoto. "I just wish Hanai wasn't so obstinate sometimes. He always takes things to extremes."

"I guess it's because he's so serious about everything," Akira said pensively. "Guys like him can't do anything by half measures."

Mikoto sighed again. Akira was right; Hanai never did anything half-heartedly, whatever his goal was he would always throw his whole being into it. It was one of the things she admired about him, but also in a way one of the things she hated. Maybe because, although he cared about her, their relationship had never been something to motivate him like this.

Meanwhile, Asou and the others were gathered together to plan their strategy. Naturally, being the ace of the basketball team, Asou took the lead as a matter of course. "Okay then, let's see…I think we should go with man-to-man defense. Umezou, Tanaka, you two take the small fries. Harima, it looks like Hanai has it out for you anyway, so you might as well take him. Suga, do you think you can handle Tougou?"

"He's good, and taller than me, but I think I can take him," answered Suga. "All right, then I'll take Harry. As for the offense, I believe these guys will expect us to shoot from up close, and they'll probably try to block Harima for the most part. So I think you should try to lure them close to the basket, and then pass outside to me or Suga for long-distance shots," he went on, addressing Harima. "Do you think you can manage that?"

"Oh, I can lure them in all right," said Harima with a sudden evil grin. Asou nodded approvingly, and then they went to meet up with the other team in the middle of the court, and the match started.

This time they were using a full court instead a half-court, and there was a lot more running involved than before. Things soon heated up; both teams were evenly matched, willfully vying for victory. From the sidelines the girls of 3-C and 3-D watched intently, and some started cheering for one player or another – mostly Harry and Asou. Eri, too, watched the match attentively; at least now she had a legitimate reason to follow Hige with her eyes, although she would never go so far as to cheer for him. But she watched him with glowing eyes, thoroughly relishing the strength and passion showing through every one of his moves in the court. It was just that energy and passion of his that had drawn her to him in the first place, she knew that now. Being such a strong, spirited person herself, she could not possibly settle for a lesser man.

Beside her, Mikoto was also watching attentively. "You know," she said perplexedly at some point, "I only noticed just now, but Harima's playing has changed."

"How so?" Taking her eyes off the court momentarily Eri turned towards her friend, puzzled. "How should I put it…I've seen him play basketball many times last year, and I even played against him once when I was on the girls' basketball team…he doesn't play the way he did back then."

"You mean he's gotten better?" Eri asked curiously. "Not exactly," Mikoto said. "He was pretty good back then too, but he was…well, more of a show-off. Whenever he got the ball he would just charge in to shoot or dunk, and practically never exchanged passes or tried to screen his team players. It was almost as if he was playing on his own."

"Or as if he was trying to impress someone," Eri said thoughtfully. "And you're saying that has changed now?"

"Isn't it obvious? All through this match he's been working together with Asou and the others," Mikoto said. "I don't think I've ever seen him coordinate so well with the rest of his team. Makes me wonder how come his style changed so drastically."

"Who knows," said Eri with a little smile. "Maybe this time he's just playing for himself."

"Huh?" Her friend gave her a bewildered look, but Eri did not continue the conversation and returned to watching the match again. For some reason, she suddenly felt elated.

PE time was almost over now, which meant the match would have to end soon as well. 3-D's team was leading by two points, and 3-C had the ball for what looked like their last attack. After a few passes, Harima got the ball. He deliberated for a few seconds, then suddenly charged decisively towards the basket. As expected, Hanai, Tougou and Harry forgot about everything else and rushed to stop him. Standing close and simultaneously raising their arms as high as possible, they cried out "You'll never get through us!" With a feral grin, Harima bounced the ball forward and charged headlong towards them.

"Asou!" Just as he was getting up to shoot, at the very last moment Harima changed his shot for a back-handed pass to Asou, who was standing completely uncovered right behind the mark of the three-point shot. By the time the others realized they had been tricked, it was too late. With no opponent hindering him, Asou leisurely lifted the ball and shot, scoring for three points. At the same time the bell sounded, signaling the end of the match.

"All right Harima!" "Nice pass, mate!" Asou, Suga and the others rushed to high-five their classmate, grinning widely. Harima seemed pretty pleased with himself too; for once he was cheerful rather than gloomy. Eri looked at him talking animatedly with the rest of the boys and felt her heart warming up. For the first time ever, she thought that she would like to see him smiling more often.

When the boys finally dispersed he looked up and spotted Eri and the others sitting on the sidelines, and made his way towards them. He noticed a look of approval in Ojou's shiny eyes directed to him, and for some reason it made him feel even better than winning itself had. He climbed up to the sidelines in front of them, and Eri tossed him a towel which he caught in midair. "Nice match, Hige," she said.

"Thanks." He wiped down his sweaty face and neck and handed the towel back to her. As he leaned over the intensely masculine scent emanating from his body wafted towards her, and she felt her pulse quickening and her body heating up. _What are you getting all worked up for, idiot? It's just a smelly guy, stinking with sweat!_ she upbraided herself, but for all her reasoning she could barely quell the desire that swept through her to just jump up and throw herself at him. Thankfully, however, he remained oblivious as always and took no notice of her reaction.

"Ojou, we're still on for tonight, right?" he asked. "Y-yeah," she replied, trying her damnedest to put up at least a façade of calmness. "Are you going to walk to my house with us?"

"Nah, I'll meet you there; since there's no telling how late I'll be, I thought I'd better bring my bike to school today." "Oh, all right then," Eri said. Behind her back, Mikoto and Akira exchanged a quick look.

"Oh darn, I totally forgot!" Mikoto suddenly exclaimed in her best dramatic fashion. "Akira and I have to go buy something after school! Say, Harima, why don't you take Eri home on your bike and we'll meet you there, how about that?"

"Uh…sure, I don't mind," he said, slightly taken aback, while Eri turned towards her friends, bristling. "And just _what,_ pray tell, do you have to buy that can't wait until tomorrow?" she asked with a most frightening fake smile.

"Supplies for a tea ceremony club activity. I need Mikoto's help to carry them," Akira replied readily without batting an eyelash. "That's right, supplies for a tea ceremony club activity," Mikoto repeated, trying desperately to put on an innocent face. Eri however did not buy her friends' excuse and continued glowering at them. _Those two…they're making it up to leave me alone with Hige, but I can't prove it! I know they mean well, but…_Even though she understood her friends' intentions she didn't believe this kind of set-up would ultimately do her any good, not to mention she still felt quite awkward being all alone with Harima. At the party they had been able to have a normal conversation, but there was no telling whether it would happen again or they'd end up fighting as usually.

"Ah, there's Yakumo and the others," Mikoto's voice broke off her trail of thoughts. Sure enough, Yakumo, Sarah and their friends entered the gymnasium wearing their gym outfits; class 2-D had PE next. Spotting their seniors, they immediately headed towards them. "Good work today Harima-san, senpais," Yakumo said politely.

"Good work, Imouto-san," Harima responded with a kind smile. "You remember what I told you yesterday, that I'll be studying over at Ojou's and won't be home until late, right?"

"Yes," Yakumo nodded. "What about you? Are your friends coming over, like you said?"

Yakumo nodded again, looking like she wanted to say something more but lacking the necessary courage to utter the words. "Umm…Harima-san…" she finally mustered the nerve to say, "…do you mind if Hirayama-kun comes over to study today as well?"

Harima drew his eyebrows together in puzzlement. "Hirayama? Who's that? Oh, I remember, the guy who brought you Tsukamoto's letter. So you guys are friends now?" he asked with a hint of concern.

"Oh yes, senpai," Sarah intervened eagerly. "Ever since we learnt that Hirayama-kun was acquainted with Tsukamoto-senpai we got to know him, and now Yakumo and I are very good friends with him."

It was the truth. The very next day after Hirayama-kun brought her Tenma's letter Yakumo had met up with him to thank him. With Sarah's cooperation, she managed to call him out to the rooftop without attracting too much attention. With her friend keeping a close eye on her, she had bowed in front of him on the deserted, wind-swept rooftop. "Hirayama-kun…I would like to thank you for delivering Nee-san's letter to me." Just like Sarah had said, even though she could still sense thoughts coming from him, she did not feel all that uncomfortable since she wasn't able to read them. "Think nothing of it," he had replied in his steady, impassive voice. "It was a request from Tsukamoto nee-sama after all."

Yakumo looked at him, bewildered; she found it odd that he used the most respectful form to address her sister when as far as she knew he wasn't acquainted with her for long. "May I ask…where do you know Nee-san from?" she asked hesitantly.

"I met her in the hospital, when she came to nurse Ooji-san," he answered simply. "Ooji-san?" Yakumo asked. "You mean Karasuma-san? Do you know him too?"

He nodded. "He's my best friend – my only friend," he said. For the first time the aloof expression on his face had given way to emotion, Yakumo noticed. "I can't begin to tell you how much he's done for me all the years I've known him. He was always there for me. When I lost my parents five years ago, he even asked his family to take me in, and I've been living with them ever since."

Even though she could not read his thoughts, there was no doubt that Karasuma-san was just as important for Hirayama-kun as her sister was for her. "It must have been…very hard on you when he…" Her voice trailed off; she didn't know how to speak of Karasuma-san's sickness.

"Yes, it was devastating," he admitted in a hollow voice. "When I saw he did not remember me at all, at first I thought I'd never be able to handle it. That's why I have so much respect for Tsukamoto nee-sama. Even though she knew Ooji-san far less than I did, she loved him well enough to turn her entire life upside down for him. And she still loves him with all her heart, even though right now he's incapable of giving any of her love back to her. I have never met a more courageous person."

Yakumo found her usual wariness fading away before his words; someone who thought so highly of her sister could not possibly be a bad person. Afterwards she asked him more questions about her sister and her life at Karasuma-san's side, and he answered them to the best of his ability. It was evident he wasn't lying; the things he told her about her sister were in keeping with Tenma's character and what she already knew from her sister's letters. In the end, Yakumo decided that as far as men went, Hirayama-kun was a person who could be trusted.

Over the following weeks, they met again to talk quite a few times. Never alone – Sarah was always there, and sometimes so were the rest of Yakumo's friends. Hirayama-kun never attempted to be alone with her; he never even initiated the meetings, it was always her or the girls calling him to come and sit with them. He was also never pushy or loud; he was generally a quiet person, and only became talkative when speaking about Karasuma-san or her sister. And most importantly he kept his hands to himself; he treated her and her friends with utmost respect. Being around him was almost as easy as with Harima-san; after a while, Yakumo could even ignore the unreadable thoughts she sensed from him. Of course their spending time together did not pass unnoticed from the rest of the class and even the school. At first, several boys who were in love with her tried to give Hirayama-kun a hard time, but somehow he always managed to fend them off without even appearing to notice their harassment. In the end they had given up, fearful that if they did something too drastic, Yakumo would come to hate them. However, even though a great part of the school knew of her new friend, Harima was still ignorant of it. Since their classes were on opposite sides of the school, they rarely met during school hours, and she had not yet mustered the courage to inform him personally, although Sarah insisted they tell him in order to observe his reaction. But for some reason, observing his reaction didn't seem all that urgent to Yakumo anymore.

Earlier that day she and the girls had met Hirayama-kun during lunch break and Sarah had told him of their intention to hold a study session in Yakumo's house. Then the girls had asked him about his grades; as it turned out, Hirayama-kun wasn't the genius his childhood friend was. He was slightly above average, good in Japanese and history, weak in math and physics, nothing unusual. Then the girls insisted he could use some tutoring for midterms, being a new student and all, and Sarah invited him to join them in the study session. He seemed a bit hesitant at first though, and it was only when Yakumo assured him too that it was no trouble that he finally accepted. However, Yakumo absolutely wanted to ask Harima's permission for this; she dreaded the thought that he might return home to find another guy there without advance warning. Sarah had agreed with her, although not so much out of propriety but because she wanted to gauge Harima's reaction when he learned that Yakumo had a relationship, albeit platonic, with another man. So they had come early for PE on purpose, knowing that Harima's class had PE before them, and of course their friends had tagged along, eager to see what would happen.

"Well…it's your house Imouto-san, you don't need my permission to call a friend over," Harima said gently. "Besides, your friends will be there too, so…But don't let your guard down too much around men, okay? They may be all right and proper on the outside, but you'd get one hell of a shock if you knew what they're thinking sometimes." Well, it was kind of ironic to say that to Yakumo of all people, but she couldn't very well tell him that. "I know Harima-san, I'll be careful," she said obediently. "You do that," he replied, patting her head.

A little further off, Satsuki, Miki and Haruna were discreetly watching the scene. "Hey Sa-chan, does that sound jealous to you?" Miki whispered conspiratorially. "Don't know, Miki," Satsuki whispered back, "sounds more like an older brother worried about his little sister to me. But Harima-senpai may sing a different tune if he sees Hirayama-kun with his own eyes; he's really good-looking after all." "But how will that happen…Harima-senpai said he'll probably return home late tonight…" Haruna murmured hesitantly. "Then we'll just have to make sure Hirayama-kun sticks around until Harima-senpai returns, even if we have to tie him to a chair. Haruna, I trust there's _a lot _of stuff we absolutely need to review for midterms tonight, right?" The other two nodded, getting Satsuki's point. "We'd better find a chance to let Sarah-chan know, too," Miki said. "With her help, it will be easier to get Yakumo-san to cooperate." The others nodded in agreement and then they all withdrew to get the gym equipment they were supposed to bring to the court. Yakumo and Sarah bid farewell to their senpais and followed soon afterwards.

"What was that all about?" asked Eri curiously. "Who's this Hirayama-kun?"

"A transfer student in Imouto-san's class," Harima said. "Apparently he's met with Tsukamoto in America and she gave him a letter for Imouto-san."

"Oh, so that's what all the fuss was about," Akira said. "Didn't I tell you girls there was this huge uproar in Yakumo's class when someone gave her a love letter in plain sight of everyone on the day of the opening ceremony?"

"Right, you did, but I never thought the letter was from Tenma," Mikoto said. "Isn't this just like her, causing misunderstandings even from halfway across the world," she chuckled.

"But…you don't mind at all this Hirayama-kun will be studying with Yakumo today?" Eri asked Harima with a strange expression.

"Well, if she was alone with him of course I'd be worried, but with four other girls with her I don't see how anything bad could happen," he said. "That's not what I meant," she muttered under her breath, but just then they heard the chatter of the 2-D students who were coming in for PE; it was time for them to leave. They exited the gymnasium and parted ways for the boys' and girls' changing rooms. Just before going on her way, Eri turned her head and took one last, lingering look at Harima's retreating figure. His white T-shirt, still drenched in sweat, clung to his lean body, outlining every detail of it with excruciating accuracy. Eri's cheeks started burning again, and she felt both aroused and angry. _Damn you, Hige…what right do you have to mess me up like that?_ But even so, she still could not tear her eyes away and just stared, entranced, when suddenly she heard Mikoto's voice in her ear.

"What, feel like joining him in the shower?" her friend giggled mischievously. Eri blushed beet red and blurted out, "Mikoto…you…you…" Incoherent with anger and embarrassment, she pounced on her friend, but Mikoto slipped from her grasp and started running with all her might towards the girls' changing rooms with Eri chasing after her. "Hey! No running in the corridors!" a teacher yelled at them, but neither of them took any notice.

SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR

The day's lessons were over, and it was finally time to go home. Sighing wearily, Eri gathered her things and put them inside her school bag. She had intended to try and talk her friends out of this ridiculous impromptu shopping trip, but Mikoto had been too clever for her. She had already put her things away during homeroom, and the second the bell rang she bolted out of the classroom, giving Eri no chance to back out of the arrangement.

"You ready, Ojou?" Harima stood beside her desk, his school bag slung over his shoulder. Eri nodded and the two of them left the classroom together. As she walked behind him to the parking space where his motorcycle was, her heart was pounding madly once again. In an effort to distract her mind, she started devising plans to get back at her friends for putting her in this awkward position. Too bad she couldn't repay Mikoto in kind by getting her alone with Hanai; those two were childhood friends and had been practicing aikido together for many years now, so they were quite used to being alone together.

As soon as they arrived to where Harima's motorcycle was parked, he got on and started the engine, and Eri climbed behind him. It was only then that she realized that due to the warm weather he had no jacket on, and she'd have to hold on to his shirt. As if the situation wasn't embarrassing enough already! Blushing up to her ears she grabbed hold of his shirt, taking care to touch only the fabric and to leave as much space between them as possible. All her good intentions went to waste though, since on the first red light he slammed on the brakes somewhat abruptly and Eri bumped on his back breasts first. Agitated beyond words by the sudden close contact, she decided to swallow her embarrassment and hold on to his waist properly. At least that way there wouldn't be any more of these shameful bumpings. However, if she wasn't so busy feeling awkward, she might have noticed that Harima's ears were red too, and that for the rest of the drive he took care to stop at traffic lights as smoothly as possible.

Upon arriving at Eri's mansion Harima expected to be led to one of the numerous sitting-rooms again, and was a bit surprised when Eri went up the stairs, clearly headed for her own room. "What, so I'm allowed into your room now?" he said jokingly; until now, Eri had adamantly refused to let him enter her room. "Don't flatter yourself," she snapped at him, "it's only because the girls are coming too." "Whatever, you don't have to bite my head off," he muttered.

Eri's room was surprisingly ordinary for a rich girl, he thought, although truth be told he had no idea what a rich girl's room was supposed to be like. Well, it was rather spacious, of course, with a large four-poster bed and a magnificent view of the garden, but other than that it was rather sparsely furnished; a desk, a closet, a collection of stuffed toys, a few framed photos of Eri's parents and friends on the nightstand, nothing tremendously out of the norm. A low table and four cushions had been brought up for them to sit and study. Harima took a look around, then walked over to the window and glanced out for a bit. "Nice view you've got from up here," he said.

"Thanks," replied Eri, blushing a little. Now that they were all alone in her room she could feel her heart racing again. She needed to find something to talk about, break the discomfort, but she couldn't come up with anything. Just then she heard her cell phone beep inside her school bag and went to retrieve it, grateful she had something to occupy herself with for a few minutes at least. But her disposition sank as soon as she saw the text message on the screen. The text was from Mikoto, and it read 'Sorry! We were a bit delayed here, we'll be there in about an hour!' _Grrr, those two…they're totally doing this on purpose! When they get here I am so going to kill them!_ "Something the matter, Ojou?" Harima asked behind her. Eri swallowed her anger and tried her best to appear nonchalant. "Oh, nothing much…this was Mikoto just now, she said they're running a bit late…" she said awkwardly. "Oh, I see," he said. "So, what're we going to do, wait for them or go ahead and start studying on our own?" Eri made her decision quickly; no way could she sit there doing nothing together with him for a whole hour. "No need to waste time, I think," she said resolutely and went to take out her school books. "Let's get started with English until the girls get here; I'm sure they'll be able to catch up." Harima nodded in agreement, took out his own books and they sat down at the low table.

Studying was better than sitting idly, but Eri still felt uncomfortable about the two of them being alone together. Fortunately, Hige's appalling English proved to be enough of a distraction for her. In a matter of minutes she was already scolding him, "How many times do you have to write it to get it right, you idiot?" and he was snapping back at her, "Don't think you're all that just because you grew up in England, Ojou!" By the time Mikoto and Akira arrived, they were at each other's throats as usual.

"…Ha-ha…glad to see you two are getting along as always…" Mikoto laughed nervously. Purposely ignoring Eri's glares, she went with Akira to leave her shopping bags in a corner of the room. While she was taking out her books, Eri heard her whisper to her friend, "Oh fine, you were right, I lost," and Akira whisper back, "I told you nothing could possibly happen in just one hour." Eri could barely refrain from exploding upon hearing this, but unfortunately that was not an option while Hige was around. She had to remind herself quite a number of times that this was her friends' way of looking out for her before she could calm down enough to focus on studying.

The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent on studying. Just like he had said, Harima was hopelessly behind on all three of the subjects they covered, but for once he tried really hard to catch up, and with the girls' help he managed to cram enough knowledge into his head to get him safely through midterms. Akira's calm, efficient tutoring at math was especially helpful; after just one afternoon with her, he understood more math than he had ever managed to understand during all of his years in high school. When they finally closed their books, night had fallen and it was completely dark outside. All four of them were pretty exhausted; they had studied continuously for hours, with only a small break to eat the sandwiches Nakamura brought them, and the mental fatigue had taken its toll on all of them.

"Aargh, I think my head's going to burst," Harima grumbled, throwing his head back and shutting his tired eyes tightly. "I don't think I've ever studied this much in my entire life."

"Well, at least now you're good to go for midterms," Mikoto remarked. "Yeah, I guess so, that is if I still remember all this by next week," he said. "If you revise the chapters I told you during the days before the exam, you should be fine," said Akira. "Well then, we'd better head for home. It's gotten really late; our parents will start to get worried."

"Ah, I'll ask Nakamura to give you two a lift home," Eri said hastily. "It's already dark out; walking home on your own could be dangerous. Nakamura!" she called out, opening the door of her room.

As expected, Nakamura responded promptly to his lady's summons. When Eri explained the errand she wanted him to do he asked, "What about Harima-sama? Shall I take him home too?"

"Hige came on his bike, so there's no need," Eri said. "Ah…in that case…could I ask a favour of you, Harima-sama?" he asked, turning to Harima. "I wouldn't like for Ojou-sama to be left all alone here while I'm gone, so could you keep her company until I return?"

"What are you talking about, Nakamura? I won't be all alone, Masaru is here, isn't he?" Eri cut in. "I'm afraid not, Ojou-sama," replied Nakamura; "I sent Masaru on an errand a while ago and he hasn't returned yet." "Even so, there's really no need for this; nothing's going to happen to me in such a short time." "I know, Ojou-sama, but your father insists that you are not left unattended, for your own safety…" "Nakamura-san is right, Eri," put in Mikoto. "You shouldn't be all alone here at such a late hour…" "Oh come on, I'm not a little girl," Eri said irritably. "Besides, I'm sure Hige will want to get home soon and get some rest."

"It's okay, Ojou, I don't mind," Harima said calmly. "Half an hour more or less isn't going to make any difference." "But…" "All right, it's settled then. Thank you very much for your kindness, Harima-sama. I will be back as soon as possible." They all went down to the entrance and Nakamura brought the car around. Mikoto and Akira got in, and Eri waved them goodbye as they left.

All alone in the empty house once again, for a few seconds they just stood in the doorway, staring at each other. "So…umm…anything you'd like to do while we wait?" Harima asked hesitantly. "Oh, I don't know…" Eri said, fidgeting, when they suddenly heard a dog whining loudly from outside the house. "Oh, that's Shiba. I wonder what's wrong with him," Eri said, puzzled. "Do you mind if we go check?" "No, not at all," Harima said and followed her to the doghouse.

"I didn't know you had a dog," he said while they were walking. Eri paused for a second and turned to look at him. "What, you don't remember? Shiba was there with me that day when I found you all beaten up in front of the shrine," she said, surprised. "Oh, well, that day I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings," Harima said drily, and his face twisted as if in pain. Eri gave him a concerned look; she remembered well what state she had found him in on that day, and it was probably his all-time low. He had almost given up on everything, drowning in his own despair – she never wanted to see him like that again. Afterwards, she had felt a bit bad for the punches she'd given him, but if this had helped him snap out of it she would gladly have beaten him black and blue all over again.

They soon got to the doghouse, and saw Eri's big, hairy, white dog Shiba outside, yanking at his chain and whining continuously. When he heard his mistress approach, Shiba wagged his tail vigorously and started pulling on his chain with renewed effort.

"Oh, he wants to go for a walk," Eri said as soon as she saw him. "I didn't take him for a walk today because we had to study. Masaru was supposed to have walked him, but…"

"Well, obviously he didn't," Harima said bluntly. "Hey, I know it's late, but how about we take him out now? I'll come with you if you want."

Eri didn't think about it too much; it was a pity to leave Shiba like this, and moreover walking the dog would be a less awkward pastime than standing there staring at each other. "Wait here a minute, I'll go get his leash," she said. Five minutes afterwards the three of them set off, Shiba pulling eagerly at the leash in Eri's hand. They walked up to the gate of Eri's mansion, and from there on to the sidewalk.

At first, neither of them seemed inclined to talk, they just walked side by side with the dog trotting in front of them. It was when they left the quiet side street where Eri's mansion stood for a busier one that the strained silence between them was interrupted in a rather unexpected way. A stray cat suddenly sprang in front of Shiba, hissing at him. Shiba barked at it and the cat, scared, took off running. Spurred by the impulse to chase it, Shiba suddenly bounded forward. Eri was caught unawares and the leash slipped from her grasp. With nothing restraining him, the dog dashed blindly forward to chase his prey, barking furiously. But the stray cat was headed directly for the main street in front of them, and despite the lateness of the hour, there was still quite a lot of traffic. Eri let out a scream as she saw her pet dog rushing headlong into the oncoming cars. "Oh my God, he's going to…!"

"Hey Shiba, get back here!" Harima called out in a commanding voice. To Eri's amazement, the dog stopped dead in his tracks and promptly turned around and headed back towards them, wagging his tail and whimpering slightly. Harima squatted down and patted the dog's head saying, "Bad boy. Don't go running off like that again." While Shiba licked his hand, he picked up the dangling leash from the ground and, getting back to his feet, handed it to Eri. "Here. And try not to let go of him again."

"How – how do you get animals to obey you like that?" she stammered. She had seen all sorts of animals flock around Harima many times before, so obedient you'd think he was training them for years, and it never failed to amaze her. "No idea, they just do," he shrugged. "Maybe they simply understand me better than humans do."

"Well then they're more intelligent than we give them credit for, because you sure are hard to figure out," Eri remarked. "Is that so? I thought I was just your average everyday delinquent," Harima said with a hint of amusement. "What part of me is so hard to understand?"

"How should I put it…you always do things one would not expect of an 'average delinquent'," Eri said. "Even now…I was really surprised the other day when you talked about going to college. No offense, but I never imagined you were thinking about your future so seriously."

"Then, what did you expect me to do after finishing high school?" he asked of her. "Honestly, I didn't know if you were even going to finish," she replied. "To tell you the truth, I half expected you to take off on one of those insane trips of yours without telling anyone about it."

"Yeah, I tend to do that a lot when things aren't going my way, don't I?" he remarked lightly, with a touch of self-sarcasm. Then he grew serious again. "It's not like I never thought of doing just that," he said quietly. "But it never solved anything in the past, and I saw no reason for it to solve anything now. I've learnt the hard way that no matter how far I go, I can never escape from myself; my problems will always catch up with me in the end. The only thing I'll accomplish by running away is make all those who care about me worried, and…I don't want to be such a selfish bastard anymore. So I might as well stay put for once and try to make something out of my life."

Eri stared at him wide-eyed, unsure how to respond to what he had just said. For a man of few words such as he was, that was quite a speech he'd just made. But it was more than that… "See, you're doing something unexpected again," she said in a low voice. "Last year, you'd never let something like that stop you."

"I know, and it was wrong of me," he admitted. "I've thought about it a lot these past few months, and…my whole way of looking at things was probably a mistake."

"What do you mean?" she asked, puzzled. "I'm not sure how to say this, but…" He furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before speaking again. "When I was younger, I thought I'd live only for myself, but that did not turn out too well. Then I thought I'd live only for Tsukamoto, but that did not turn out very well either. I'm starting to think that…maybe living for one thing only isn't such a good tactic after all. Maybe I should try and find more than one things to live for."

Eri looked at him with a thoughtful expression on her face; she had anticipated the ordeal he had been through would change him, but never to that extent. "You really did think about this a lot," she said, genuinely impressed. "Imagine that."

"Didn't see that coming from a brainless punk like me, right?" Harima said with a brief, cynical laugh. "Maybe it's true what they say, that pain helps you mature." He grimaced a little. "Though, if it were up to me, I'd definitely choose some other way to grow up."

They fell silent again; Eri thought it might be for the best not to force him to talk any further. He had already revealed quite a few of his innermost thoughts just now, and she didn't want him to feel like she was pressuring him to confide in her. So it was no little surprise for her when Harima decided to break the silence himself.

"Come to think of it, you never told me what _you _plan to do after high school," he said. Eri lifted her head abruptly and stared at him in astonishment; barring the time he had come to stop her from quitting school, he had never shown any interest in her affairs until now. "Do you really want to know?"

"Well, yeah, otherwise I wouldn't be asking," he answered. Eri looked downwards for a bit, considering where to begin. "As you know, I'll be taking college entrance exams," she finally started saying. "My first choice is F all-girls' college, perhaps you've heard of it?"

"Sounds familiar," he said. "Really high-class and such, right?"

"Yeah, well, with my background I can't very well aim for something lower," Eri said. "But it's not that unreachable, Mikoto and Akira are also aiming for it."

"So, what do you intend to study there?" he asked. "I always had a flair for fashion-related things, so I thought I'd try my hand at fashion design or something. I believe I'd like a career in that direction."

"Yeah, it totally fits your image," he agreed. "Although I always thought you'd end up taking over the family business or something."

"There's that option too, but I would prefer to start a business of my own rather than just inherit one," Eri said. "Can't argue with that, but what about your parents? Won't they object to it? Since you're an only child, there's no one else to take over, right?"

"Well, my parents are still young," answered Eri. "It will probably be many years until I'm actually required to replace them, and I'd rather not just sit around and wait for them to grow old. And it's not like the Sawachika group would collapse without me; there's a whole bunch of directors and executives to take care of things. The way I see it, it would be better for me to go out independently and make a name for myself until the time comes for me to help my parents with running their business. I don't want to be some naïve heiress or have anyone say that I won my position through my family and not by my own merit."

"It can't hurt to gather some experience before you start running a whole corporation, I guess," Harima said thoughtfully. "If you're completely clueless, you're bound to be tricked at some point. But being independent isn't just fun and games, it can be pretty tough, especially if you're used to others doing everything for you," he warned her. "I've lived on my own, so I know what I'm talking about."

"I don't expect it to be easy, Hige," Eri said, looking at him levelly. "I don't like easy things anyway. It may sound arrogant coming from a rich girl like me, but I believe in earning things, not having them handed to me on a plate."

Harima stared at her for a while with his usual unfathomable expression. "No," he finally said after a few moments, "I didn't think you'd like that in the first place." For a few minutes they stood silently, holding each other's gaze without saying anything. Somehow they both felt there was no need for words at this point; they could understand each other just fine without them.

A car's honk sounded in the distance, breaking the silence hovering between them. With a start, Eri tore her eyes away first, taking a look at her watch. "We'd better head back," she said, "Nakamura will be back any minute now and if he sees I'm missing he'll be worried sick." Harima nodded and they started back towards her house at a brisk pace. They arrived there just as Nakamura passed through the gate in the car.

A few minutes later, Harima was on his motorcycle, ready to leave. "See you at school tomorrow, Hige." "Yeah, see you tomorrow." Eri stood and watched the motorcycle vanish in the darkness with a little smile. Yes, she would see him again tomorrow. He wasn't going anywhere, not this time.

Harima was speeding down the empty street, a cool breeze passing through his hair. For a long while now he felt like he was stuck in the same place, but tonight it felt like he had finally started to move forward again. Funny, wasn't it, how talking with Ojou helped him put things in their right perspective. But even funnier was that, even though he had ended up talking about things that invariably pained him, he didn't feel so much pain. On the contrary, it was as if his heartache had dulled a little.

SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR

Even though it was really late by the time he got to Imouto-san's house, Harima noticed with a little surprise that the lights were still on. Could it be that she and her friends were still studying at this hour? As far as he knew, Imouto-san had first-rate grades, so he didn't think she needed to study that much for her midterms. But then she might be helping her friends with their studies rather than studying for herself. She was the type who would do that.

He entered the house and took his shoes off, then headed for the living-room whence sounds of lively girls' voices were heard. Seated around the dining table were Yakumo, Sarah, their three girlfriends and a slender boy he presumed was that famous Hirayama-kun. As soon as she saw him enter, Yakumo dutifully got up to greet him. "Welcome home, Harima-san. Thanks for your hard work."

"I'm home," he answered her kindly. "Are you guys still studying at this hour?"

"We had a lot of subjects to cover for midterms, so…" Yakumo said. "Would you like something to eat? Or a bath?" she went on to ask.

"No, no need," he reassured her. "We had a bite over at Ojou's, so I'm not hungry. And it's too late for a bath, I'll just shower in the morning. So don't mind me and get back to your studying, okay?"

"Actually, we were just finishing, senpai," Sarah said. Like they had planned at school, she and the girls had purposely prolonged the study session until Harima returned, so that he could see Yakumo together with Hirayama-kun. Although, judging from his reaction so far, he didn't seem to have taken any particular notice of him.

"Oh, that's good then," Harima said. "You shouldn't stay up too late anyway; you still have school tomorrow. But it's really late now, how are you girls going to get home? Is someone coming to pick you up?"

"Actually, senpai, we were wondering if the girls and Hirayama-kun could stay here for the night, since, like you said, it's late and there aren't any more trains…" Sarah said boldly. Yakumo blushed crimson at her friend's suggestion, but she didn't say anything, just looked at Harima to see how he would answer.

"Sure, no problem," he replied readily. "But _you_ are sleeping in my room," he went on, addressing Hirayama for the first time in a tone that brooked no argument. "Even if you are classmates, it's not right for a guy to sleep in the same room as the girls."

Hirayama immediately inclined his head, assenting. "Of course, senpai, I wouldn't have it any other way." Harima gave an approving nod; at least the kid knew his manners, apparently. A short while afterwards, the study group finished with the last of their exercises and closed their books. The girls got up, giggling and squealing excitedly in anticipation of the sleepover, and adjourned to Yakumo and Sarah's bedroom to look for nightclothes and spare futons. From what Harima heard, they had already called their families and let them know they were staying over, so they had no more concerns now and could look forward to spending half the night chattering and fooling around with their friends.

"What about you, shouldn't you tell your family that you're not coming home for the night?" Harima asked Hirayama as he led him to his room. "I live alone, senpai," came the quiet answer. "Alone, huh…" Harima wanted to ask why, but in the end decided against it; he was aware from experience that every man has his own circumstances, but doesn't always want to talk about them.

Harima opened the door to his bedroom and gestured to the other boy to get in. He walked over to his closet, opened it and started rummaging for a pair of pajamas that would more or less fit his much smaller-sized guest. "These are kind of big for you, but it's just for one night," he said, finally producing a T-shirt and a pair of shorts.

"They'll do just fine, senpai," Hirayama said and took the clothes from him. While Harima was pulling an extra futon and sheets out of the closet, Hirayama changed into his ridiculously big borrowed nightwear, then cast a look about the spartan room. His attention was caught by Harima's guitar, leaning against a wall near the window. "Do you play the guitar, senpai?" he asked.

"Sometimes, when I'm in the mood," Harima said, spreading out the futon. "Have you been playing for a long time?" Hirayama asked again. Something about his tone sounded different, Harima thought, and turned to look at him. It struck him that until then he had seemed rather apathetic, but now he looked uncharacteristically animated; clearly the subject was of interest to him. "Several years, on and off," he said. "But I'm not that good, I was self-taught. Do you play it too?"

"Yes, I've been playing since I was little. I took lessons for many years together with Ooji-san."

"Ooji-san?" Harima gave him a confused look, then his brow cleared. "Oh, so that's where you know Tsukamoto from, you're a friend of Karasuma's. Funny, I thought this guy didn't have any close friends." While Karasuma was never exactly an outcast, since he occasionally talked with others in class and even participated in school events, as far as Harima could tell the only people he had ever really opened up to were Tenma and himself. Then again, for him too Karasuma was the closest thing to a guy friend he ever had. It was a bit of a tragic irony, he thought sometimes, that two rivals in love would also happen to be each other's only friend.

"Yes, Ooji-san was never what you'd call a people person," Hirayama admitted. "It was different with us, our parents were very good friends and we've known each other since we were toddlers. We took guitar and martial arts classes together, played together…everything. Of course I was a year younger, so I looked up to him; he was my hero." He smiled faintly for an instant, then went on to say, "But now that you mention it, yes, he was a bit of a loner…I think it was probably because he was afraid that if he got too close to other people they would find out about his condition and…he didn't want to be treated differently because of it."

"You mean he's had this thing ever since he was little?" Harima asked, surprised, and Hirayama nodded affirmatively. "What is this sickness of his anyway? I understand it has something to do with his head, but apart from that…"

"A lot of things about it are still unknown," Hirayama said in a serious tone, "but if you want to know I can tell you what I've heard from Ooji-san's doctors at least." Harima nodded, and Hirayama started talking.

"It's a rare syndrome, with a weird English name I'm not even sure how to pronounce properly," he started. "And when I say rare, I mean only a handful of people in the world have it. It's neither hereditary nor contagious; those who have it are born with it for no apparent reason."

"During the first years of their lives there are virtually no symptoms," he went on. "The patients are quite normal – better than normal, in fact. One of the doctors told us that because of the disease the brain is sort of working overtime. Brain functionality, alertness and mental endurance are all significantly increased."

"So, Karasuma was a genius because he was sick?" Harima asked, astonished at this unexpected information. "No, the disease doesn't make you smarter, it just enables the brain to work effectively for longer periods of time without rest," Hirayama said. "Although I think that in Ooji-san's case, he also pushed himself to work to the very limits of his endurance. It seemed to me like he wanted to get as many things done as possible while he still could."

"Anyway, like I said during that time there are practically no symptoms, and the only way to find out about the disease is by running certain tests," he went on. "The only symptom, if you would call it that, is a tendency to pass out after strenuous physical exercise. That's how Ooji-san found out he had the disease in the first place."

_So that's why this guy always played coach, referee or commentator in sports events, _Harima thought, but then another question popped into his head. "Wait a minute. If that's the case, how was Karasuma able to take martial arts classes in the first place? And he was damned good too, he must have been practicing for years."

"During childhood, it's not so bad," Hirayama answered, "but the older you get, the worse it becomes. At some point during adolescence, you start having seizures as well – rarely at first, then more and more often. There are some treatments, but all they do is slow down the progress of the disease, not stop it. In the end, the brain kind of shuts down and you enter the second stage, which is…well, the state Ooji-san's in now," he concluded with a strained voice. His eyes were dry, but his whole face was contorted with pain, and Harima felt as though icy fingers had closed around his heart, wringing it mercilessly.

"And once you enter that second stage…you stay like that…forever?" he asked with a shaking voice, dreading to hear the answer. "It depends," Hirayama said. "In some cases, after a period of time – it could be months, or even years – the brain sort of reboots and little by little they recover and are able to live a normal life once again. But others, yes, they remain in that state for the rest of their lives, without memories or the ability to communicate with others. Unfortunately, so far there's no indication as to what causes the brain to reboot in those who recover," he went on. "As I said, the disease is really rare, and because of that it hasn't been adequately studied. The only thing to be done with those who have it is admit them to a special facility to be cared for and monitored. That's why we moved to America three years ago in the first place. Ooji-san was supposed to have been admitted at the start of his second year in high school, but in the end he decided to postpone his admittance for another year. He wouldn't tell us why, but apparently he had a good reason."

_He had a good reason all right, _Harima thought to himself with a bitter smile. If he hadn't decided to stay back at that time…But what if's and regrets would not get him anywhere. Then something completely unrelated occurred to him.

"You said 'we' moved," he said, puzzled, "how come _you_ went with Karasuma's family to America?"

"Oh, you see, my parents died in a traffic accident five years ago. Since I have no close relatives, I would have been sent to an orphanage until I became an adult, but Ooji-san asked his family to take me in. Two years after that we moved to America, in order to be near the hospital where Ooji-san would be admitted. But he stayed behind because he wanted to experience at least one year in high school while he was still healthy. Then he asked permission to stay for another year, and then…you know. Now we can only wait and see what will become of him."

"So…in the end, there's no way to tell whether Karasuma will be one of those who make it back, huh?" Harima said dejectedly. "No, there isn't," Hirayama said, "but you know what? Tsukamoto nee-sama says he'll come back, and I believe her." For the first time after he started talking about Karasuma's sickness, Hirayama's face brightened up a bit. For some reason he seemed to have absolute faith in Tenma's words, Harima noted with considerable surprise. He also noticed the way Hirayama referred to her; like Yakumo, he too was struck by his respectful attitude towards her. Tenma was always well-liked by everyone, and in his eyes radiantly adorable, but respect was hardly something she was likely to inspire. Even he, who had loved her so much, at times was only too aware of her shortcomings, although they never once diminished her value in his opinion.

"You…seem to think very highly of Tsukamoto," he observed with no little curiosity. "Not that I disagree, but surely you can't have known her that long; she went to America just before you came here. So how come…"

Hirayama looked down and smiled a little. His smile was sad and…yes, guilty. "Do you know why I enrolled in this school, senpai?" he asked.

When Harima as expected shook his head, he said, "It was Ooji-san who suggested it. Back when he was here, in the letters he wrote me he said that his two school years here were the best of his life. That even if he was condemned to spend the rest of his life confined in a bed, he had no complaint since he was at least granted this much happiness. And that I, too, should come here at least for a year and see for myself what he meant. I enrolled in this school to honour his request…or so I told myself. But in reality, that was not my true reason."

"What was it, then?" Harima asked. He still had no clue what all this had to do with Tenma, but nevertheless he was moved by the boy's countenance. Hirayama's face had darkened all over, and he looked like he was reliving a horrible nightmare.

"When Ooji-san came back, and I saw the state he was in…I despaired, senpai," he whispered painfully. "Can you imagine what it's like, someone who was more than a brother to you suddenly not remembering you at all? And on top of that to see such an intelligent, gifted and kind person unable to speak his mind or understand what is being said to him? I couldn't…I just couldn't handle it, I couldn't stand seeing him like this. I wanted to run away, as far as I could. That's why I enrolled here, to put as much distance as possible between me and him. But thankfully before I left, Tsukamoto nee-sama came."

"She, too, was shocked when she saw him, and cried a lot," Hirayama went on. "But she didn't run away. Even though he never told her he loved her…she still decided to stake her whole life on this. She faced this awful predicament head on, although she knew she could be in for a lifetime of suffering with no happy ending waiting ahead. I was truly humbled by her courage and resolution and ashamed for my own cowardice, but at the same time she gave me back my hopes and optimism. When I saw how determined she was to take care of Ooji-san, and how confident she was that everything will turn out well if she does her best, I could not help but decide not to let my weakness get the better of me, and to do my best for my friend too."

"If that's what you decided, why did you still come here instead of staying back to help taking care of Karasuma?" Harima asked. "Actually I was prepared to do just that, but Tsukamoto nee-sama insisted that I should do as Ooji-san said and come here after all. She said that it's all the happy memories she made with everyone in this school that gave her courage to deal with Ooji-san's situation, and that I should have that opportunity as well and use it to make myself a better person, just like she had. I must confess I wasn't sure it was the right thing to do, but now that I'm here I'm beginning to understand what she meant. Besides, I can rest easy now knowing she is by Ooji-san's side. If there's anyone capable of bringing him back to us, it's her."

Harima smiled a little. "Yeah, Tsukamoto will bring this guy back if she has to pull him by force. There's nothing she can't do when it comes to him." The look in his eyes as he met the other boy's gaze was an uncanny mix of affection, pain and a sense of justification; he had questioned many times over his decision to send Tenma over to Karasuma's side, but right now it truly felt it had been the right thing to do. He might have wounded his own heart almost fatally, but he had pushed Tenma in the right direction; by her attitude described to him, it was obvious that she had no regrets about the choice she made. And if she had no regrets, he would have none too, no matter how much his decision had cost him.

Then something else occurred to him, and raised his head curiously to face Hirayama. "You know, I only just thought of this, but it's kind of weird to talk about all this so easily with a guy you just met," he said. "Ah, but I knew all along I could talk about those things with you, senpai," Hirayama said unperturbed. "You are the 'rival' after all."

"Excuse me?" Hirayama gave an amused smile at the astonished look on Harima's face. "In the letters Ooji-san wrote me last year," he went on to explain, "he spoke a lot of Tsukamoto nee-sama, as you can imagine. It was quite evident that he loved her very much, even though he never said it outright. But there was someone else frequently mentioned in the letters as well, a 'worthy rival', as Ooji-san called him. 'If it's him, I know I could entrust him with what's most important to me', he said in one of his last letters. He never mentioned a name, but from the general description, some things Tsukamoto nee-sama said, and also certain things I've heard from Tsukamoto-san and Adiemus-san, I've come to the conclusion that it's you, senpai," he said, eyeing Harima steadily. "The look on your face just now when you spoke of Ooji-san and Tsukamoto nee-sama only confirmed it. I'm right, aren't I? You were Ooji-san's rival for Tsukamoto nee-sama's love, weren't you?"

"If by that you're asking if I was in love with Tsukamoto, then yes, you're right," Harima said, returning Hirayama's steadfast gaze. "But as for the rival thing…I'm afraid I was never much of a rival to begin with. I hate to admit it even now, but I never stood a chance against your Ooji-san. Tsukamoto didn't have eyes for anyone but him…I tried, I really did, I gave it my all so that my feelings would reach her. But in the end it was no good, I had to accept the one she loved was Karasuma and not me. The only thing I could do for her was make her happy by delivering her to the one person who could make her happy. Even if that wasn't me," he concluded sadly.

"And now, senpai? Do you...still love her?" Hirayama asked, his voice barely above a whisper. Harima looked at him thoughtfully; he wasn't sure if he should be talking about such personal and painful matters with a guy he hardly knew. But the younger man's expression was sincere, his gaze earnest and straightforward. And he looked like the sort of person who would understand without second-guessing him. For the past year, Harima had been plagued by misunderstandings without end, and he was sick and tired of everyone taking what he said or did the wrong way. For once he wanted to be able to say what was on his mind without reservations or fears of being criticized. Ojou had been kind to him these past few months, and so had Imouto-san and the rest of the girls, but sometimes it was easier to talk about these kinds of things with a guy rather than a girl. And this particular guy had been able to surmise exactly how he felt just by putting together what he had learnt and looking at it objectively, and what's more he had openly shared his own thoughts and feelings with him without being deterred by prejudices and misconceptions. It was only fair to respond to his honesty with honesty.

He sighed deeply. "I wish I knew." It was a question which had haunted him for many months now, and he still didn't feel any closer to answering it. "I really want to put all this behind me and move on, but love isn't a switch you can simply turn on and off. And this love that changed my whole world…I can't just forget about it overnight. All I can do is take it one day at a time and see where my choices take me. It's a tough road, I guess, but I don't regret any of it. When you fall in love for real you'll understand what I mean."

"I see," Hirayama said with downcast eyes. "…It seems that falling in love…can make you do or feel the most unexpected things. I'm starting to see that myself." Before Harima could ask what he meant by that last thing, he raised his head again to look at him. "Senpai…I know it's really horrible to ask you this question…but I really need to know this. Do you…hate Ooji-san because of all this?"

Harima smiled a little at this direct question; this kid sure didn't mince his words, and he rather liked that. "I know I should, but I could never bring myself to do it," he said with equal directness. "After all, he couldn't help loving Tsukamoto…or Tsukamoto loving him." He chuckled softly. "…Besides, he likes curry."

"…Curry?" For the first time tonight, Hirayama seemed genuinely baffled. "…Never mind, you wouldn't understand. Now, if you're done with the questions, let's get some sleep already, or we'll never wake up on time tomorrow." Hirayama nodded obediently and they both lay down to sleep; soon, the younger boy's breathing turned slow and even, a sure sign of deep slumber. But Harima found himself unable to follow his own advice and stayed awake long into the night, thinking.

That evening had certainly given him lots to think about, and just when he thought he'd started sorting out his own problems, too. But at least he could still think about his problems, he reminded himself. Karasuma…what an enormous burden this guy had been carrying all this time, and no one the wiser either. Knowing all along that one day he'd inevitably end up like this, possibly forever…and still wanting a normal life more than anything. A life with friends, work and love, a life he knew he could never have. Harima had always wondered why Karasuma deliberately kept evading Tenma's attempts to confess her love to him, even though he was obviously aware of her love, but it all made sense now. He didn't want to drag her into this, he didn't want her love for him to deprive her of the normal, happy life she deserved and he was unable to offer her. But on the other hand, he couldn't quite let go of her or reject her outright, because he loved her too. Talk about a dilemma here…Harima could not even begin to imagine how hard it must have been, being torn like that between love and right. What would he do if he were in this guy's position? Would he be able to bury his feelings and let go of his love so that she could be happy, or would he act selfish and refuse to leave her? He honestly didn't know at this point, and truthfully he felt a bit relieved he didn't have to make such a decision. But even though he fully understood Karasuma's quandary now, he still thought it was wrong of him to act all by himself, without giving Tenma a chance to reach a decision on her own. He probably thought she wouldn't understand how grave his condition was and lightheartedly commit herself without fully realizing the consequences, but even so it was her decision to make, and he should have given her a chance to make it. In his attempt to ensure her happiness, he had inadvertently made her unhappier than anyone else ever had; really, for a genius he had acted downright stupid in this matter. But still, Tenma kept on loving him and decided to stay by his side, which was way more than he deserved, Harima thought ruefully. He only hoped that if he ever snapped out of this brain shut-down of his, he'd have the sense to appreciate what was given him; otherwise, Harima had half a mind to beat him back into a coma all over again.

But there would be no need for that; if Karasuma recovered, he would surely never let go of Tenma, Harima was certain of it. What he had done, he had done because he thought of her first and foremost, and that alone was proof enough that he loved her deeply and truly. Harima had always believed that his feelings for Tenma would never lose to anyone else's, but now he was forced to acknowledge that Karasuma's feelings for her were at least equally strong. He might not have shown it on his face, he might not even have said it out loud, at least not to her, but he had loved her well enough to make the ultimate sacrifice of letting her go of his own free will…it might have been a misguided decision, but it showed the depth of his feelings nonetheless, and Harima could not help but recognize that. And since he loved her so much, he would never let her go again if he recovered, on the contrary he would love her even more after everything she had done for him. Even though those two had never exchanged a single word of love, right now they were more securely bound together than any married couple. There were no more questions regarding their feelings; the only remaining question was whether their love would prove stronger than Karasuma's disease. For his part, Harima could sincerely say now that he hoped for that too; regardless of what became of him, he wanted Tenma to be happy, and he felt that knowing she was happy would give him the strength to move on and maybe, just maybe, find some happiness of his own along the way.

As he finally drifted off to sleep, oddly his last thought was about what he had told Ojou earlier, that he didn't want to run away anymore. He hadn't lied about that; for a long time now, he was way past believing that running away would do him any good. But what he hadn't told her was how close he had been to just throw everything away again and go off on an 'insane trip' despite knowing this, although she had guessed as much on her own. But, perhaps fortunately, she didn't seem to have guessed that what had made him stay in the end was the fact that running away would be a sign of weakness, and for some reason he just couldn't stand to appear weak in front of her.


	4. Chapter 4 Summer Vacation

**Chapter 4 – Summer Vacation Trials and Awakenings**

Midterms were finally over, and soon afterwards the school closed for summer vacation. A fortnight after the end of the grueling examination week, Harima managed to unwind a bit for the first time in a long while. He had good reasons for his mood improvement; first off, the exams results came out and to his relief he learnt that he had succeeded in securing passing grades in midterms, thus ensuring his graduation from high school and his future college studies. Moreover, his manga was coming along well, its popularity still small but steadily increasing. His editor was pleased with him (although he had yet to learn calling him by his proper name), and seemed optimistic about the future of his series in the magazine, but that did not mean he was allowed to slack off. For a whole ten days after midterms he had pulled all-nighters working on his latest chapter which was to appear in the magazine's summer issue. Fortunately, despite his exhaustion from the exams, he managed to make his deadline on time and now he could afford to relax a little, since the next issue wasn't due for another month. Which meant he would be able to enjoy the trip to the beach without worries.

The mastermind behind this trip was none other than Akira. It had started off as an outing of the tea ceremony club, with Mikoto and Eri invited as Akira's guests. Then Sarah had made a point of inviting Harima too, wishing to give Yakumo an opportunity to spend some time with him in a different setting than usual. Of course, when Hanai found out about this he insisted on coming along too, determined not to leave his precious Yakumo-kun alone with the man he considered his greatest rival.

Since it wasn't a girls' only trip anymore, Akira had suggested inviting some more guys too, in order to even the numbers. Sarah took the initiative to invite Asou, who she knew from her part-time job, and he in turn had invited his buddy Suga, who was only too delighted to go to the beach with actual girls, and pretty ones at that. Akira was a bit worried about Asou coming along due to his past history with Mikoto, but her friend assured her she had no problem with it because they were nothing more than good friends now. Anyway, from the looks of it, it was going to be four guys and five girls, when Yakumo surprised everyone by suggesting all on her own to ask Hirayama-kun to come as well. Akira and the girls were really astonished to hear that reserved Yakumo actually wishing for a man's company, but they had no reason to refuse her request, and besides they were curious to learn more about Hirayama-kun and his strange friendship with Yakumo. The guys had no objections either; Harima had taken a liking to him after their long talk on the day of the study session, and to Hanai and the others he did not seem threatening in any way, his presence being barely noticeable. And so it was a party of ten that set off for a three-day, two-night trip to the beach on the second week after the start of summer vacation.

Right now they were in the bullet train bound for the beach, occupying two double seats on each side of the train. On the right side, Harima sat by the window, looking outside half-asleep. After some maneuvering, Mikoto and Akira had managed to get Eri to sit next to him, not that anything had come out of it; he was being his usual taciturn self, and Eri on the other hand purposely ignored him and talked only to her friends who were seated opposite them. On the left side, it was Yakumo sitting by the window, with Sarah sitting next to her and Asou sitting next to Sarah. Opposite them sat Suga, Hanai and Hirayama. Sarah was engaged in light conversation with Asou and Suga, while Hanai kept pestering Yakumo with random questions about lessons and such in an attempt to get close to her, but only got monosyllables in answer; Yakumo still felt pretty uncomfortable around Hanai, even though his thoughts were always consistent with his words. Hirayama, who sat directly opposite Yakumo, was skimming silently through a book, oblivious to what went on around him as usual. At the moment, even though he did not seem aware of it, he was the main conversation topic among the three older girls; this was their first time seeing him up close, and they were really curious as to what was the deal between him and Yakumo.

"So this is Hirayama-kun, huh," murmured Mikoto as discreetly as possible; it wouldn't do to be overheard. "Well, I must say, he's not bad-looking at all. Kind of looks familiar, too, but I'm not sure why… What do you think, Akira, is there really something going on between him and Yakumo? They don't seem all that friendly to me right now…"

"Well, Yakumo is not the type to act all lovey-dovey in public, you know," Akira said thoughtfully. "And Hirayama-kun seems rather reserved as well. Honestly, I can't tell if there's anything special between the two of them right now…to the best of my knowledge, they have never met privately. All I know is that Yakumo seems quite relaxed when he's around, which is unusual for her. Aside from Harima, she was never good with men."

"Maybe it's because, like you said, he's reserved and well-mannered," put in Eri. "It's so hard to find a guy who knows how to behave these days." She cast Harima a dirty look but it was completely wasted since he had dozed off a while ago, with his forehead resting on the window glass.

"Well he may seem that way, but we don't really know his true character, do we," said Mikoto with concern. "I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't want Yakumo to get hoodwinked by some smooth-talker. Now that Tenma's not here, we ought to watch over her little sister in her stead. Some friends we'd be if we let anything bad happen to her."

"Agreed, but what can we do? It wouldn't be right to interfere with them if they have a proper relationship either," said Eri. "Well, we should at least find out what we can about Hirayama-kun's character. If he's an honest guy, and his intentions towards Yakumo are pure, of course we'll leave them alone."

"If it's about gathering information, it would be best to start with this guy here," Akira said, pointing at the sleeping Harima. "Sarah said he's met with Hirayama-kun when he came over to study at Yakumo's house, and they even shared a room. Even if they didn't talk much, he must have at least some idea about his character."

"Good thinking, Akira," Mikoto said approvingly. "Well come on, Eri, wake him up so that we can ask him," she urged her friend. "Geez, why do _I _have to…?" muttered Eri, then sighed and nudged him none too gently with her elbow. "Wake up, lazybones, we want to ask you something."

"You just can't let a guy get some sleep in peace, can you, Ojou?" grumbled Harima, sighing wearily and rubbing his eyes. "What is it this time?" he asked, sitting up.

"See, we were wondering what kind of guy Hirayama-kun is," Mikoto said. "You've met with him over at Yakumo's house, right? What did you think of him?"

"What did I think of him…well, he seems like a good kid, I guess," said Harima, somewhat surprised. "Imouto-san and her friends like having him around these days, and as far as I know he's never tried anything indecent with any of them."

"Did he say anything about himself to you?" Akira asked in turn. Harima looked down a bit; Hirayama had indeed spoken about some very personal issues with him, but he felt it wouldn't be right to betray his trust by revealing them to others. "…Well, he said he's a childhood friend of Karasuma's," he told the girls after a little deliberation; this at least he could tell, he figured, it didn't look like Hirayama was keeping it a secret. "He's really attached to him, and…he was pretty glad that Tsukamoto's by his side now." Eri noticed a shadow pass over his face as he said that last part, and felt a momentary twinge of pain. It was hard for her to see that he still cared about Tenma, but more than that it stung to see that he was still in pain over his lost love. Of course she wanted him to look at her, but even more so she wanted him to be happy.

"Ooh, no wonder he looks familiar," said Mikoto excitedly, hitting her palm with her fist. "He reminds me of Karasuma-kun! He doesn't look anything like him, but their attitude is similar, right?" Akira and Eri nodded in agreement; Hirayama-kun's light hair and eyes were in complete contrast with Karasuma-kun's jet black ones, but their silent, spaced-out demeanor was almost identical. "Well, if he's a friend of Karasuma-kun's it should be enough, right?" said Eri. "He would never be friends with someone dishonest, I believe."

But Mikoto wasn't entirely satisfied just yet. "I still think we ought to find out his intentions about Yakumo," she said. "Even if he doesn't mean to deceive her, he might inadvertently lead her on and end up hurting her. We should keep in mind she's completely inexperienced when it comes to men."

"But how are we going to do that?" asked Eri. "We can't very well go and ask him such a thing when we don't even know him."

"No, but Harima here can," said Mikoto. "I mean, he's already on speaking terms with Hirayama-kun, and besides as Yakumo's caretaker he has every right to question a potential boyfriend. Not to mention it's less awkward for two guys to talk about these kinds of things."

"A man-to-man talk…yes, that makes sense," said Akira. "I think, too, that Harima is more suitable for this task than we are. Then, we can count on you regarding this matter, right?" she asked, turning towards Harima.

"Whoa, hold on a second there!" he protested. "Don't go dragging me into your schemes without asking! Why the hell should I get involved in other people's affairs just so you can satisfy your curiosity?"

"This isn't some game to us, Hige," snapped Eri, glaring at him. "We're doing this because we are concerned about Yakumo's welfare." She paused for a bit, pursing her lips. _This is totally under the belt, I know, but…_ "Tenma left Yakumo in your care, are you going to disappoint her?"

He jolted visibly at her words, looking at her angrily. But he knew he had lost; when she put it that way there was no way he could argue, damn her. "Fine," he snapped back at her, "as soon as I get him alone, I'll ask him. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to sleep some more. Unlike _some others _I could mention, I'm a working man." And with this parting shot he pointedly turned his back at them and soon he was fast asleep again. Eri let out a sigh, while her friends were looking at her apologetically; apparently her concern over Yakumo's sentimental affairs had done considerable damage to her own. Maybe it was true what people said, that a good deed never goes unpunished. However, there was no going back now, so they might as well try to get something concrete regarding Hirayama-kun's intentions out of that plan. For the remainder of the train ride, she and her friends discussed various plans to create an opportunity for this man-to-man talk. But Akira's sharp eyes didn't miss that Eri seemed rather out of sorts from then on; evidently her argument with Harima had hurt her more than she let on. Privately, Akira resolved to make it up to her friend by helping patch things up between them, and by the time they arrived at their destination she had already come up with a number of ideas towards that end.

As soon as they got to their inn, they left their bags in the rooms and changed into their swimsuits, then went down to the beach. Like last year, they had got two adjoining rooms, one for the guys and one for the girls, separated by a sliding door. This time however there were no attempts at peeping while the girls were changing, and the group headed down to the beach without incident. After finding two neighbouring umbrellas, the girls settled underneath them; they were going to spend the greater part of the day there anyway. With the exception of Mikoto, who had learnt swimming the previous summer, none of the other girls knew how to swim. Hanai of course persistently repeated last year's offer to teach the girls how to swim (clearly intending to undertake Yakumo-kun's teaching), but Akira and Mikoto managed to dissuade him for the time being. Their reasoning was simple: they needed to get Hirayama alone with Harima, and that wasn't going to happen if the guys were paired off with the girls. So in the end it was decided that on the first day they would just play around, and the swimming lessons would be left for the next one.

"I think this is going to work," Akira whispered discreetly to her two friends, while Yakumo and the rest were busy unpacking their things. "If the guys head out to swim it will be a good opportunity for Harima to talk to Hirayama-kun in private. We'll be out on the beach, and Asou-kun will probably go swimming with Suga-kun, since they're friends and everything. It's too good a chance to waste; afterwards, we'll all be together and it won't be as easy to get them to talk alone."

"Yeah, but what about Hanai?" Mikoto asked. "We need to find a way to get rid of him for a while; you know how obsessed he is with Yakumo, God knows what he'll do if he hears those two talking about her." The other two nodded and tried to think of something to get Hanai out of the way, but it proved more difficult than they had first thought. Eri suggested sending him on some errand or other, but Akira said it would be too risky, since there was no telling how long the conversation would take. While they were still debating over it, Akira noticed that Harima had already taken his T-shirt off and was about to go into the sea. It was absolutely necessary to inform him of their plan beforehand, so she hastily motioned him to come over, which he did most reluctantly.

"What now?" he grumbled, without bothering to hide his displeasure. "We thought it would be a good chance for you to have that man-to-man talk with Hirayama-kun if you went swimming together," Akira told him. "But if Hanai-kun happens to overhear, it would be pretty awkward, so we must somehow get him away from here while you have your talk."

Harima thought for a second, gazing out into the sea, then suddenly his eyes sparkled mischievously. "Leave that to me," he said and headed towards Hanai who was still fussing over unpacking things with a devious smirk on his face. At the very least he wouldn't be the only one to suffer from getting caught up in these girls' conspiracies.

"Hey four-eyes, think you could swim to that island and back?" he asked nonchalantly, pointing to a tiny island, more like an oversized rock with a scrawny little tree on it which was situated about two kilometers from the beach. Hanai cast him a suspicious look. "And why would I want to swim all the way out there?" he asked in an evidently mistrusting tone. "Oh, no reason," Harima said indifferently. "Just that I heard Imouto-san say she'd be really impressed if someone could swim that far. I for one don't think I can make it, so I was wondering if you could." That was all Hanai needed in the way of motivation. He sprang up like a flash yelling, "Watch my manly performance, Yakumo-kun!" and under everyone's astonished stares rushed headlong into the sea and began swimming furiously. Harima followed him with his eyes, smiling wickedly. "What a sucker," he muttered under his breath.

"I had no idea you've become such a cunning man, Hige," Eri's voice sounded behind him. He turned around and saw her looking at him with an odd expression, as if she had suddenly noticed something about him she had never seen before. "You wanted him out of the way or didn't you?" he asked her coldly, and without waiting for an answer turned away from her and went over to where Hirayama was; the sooner this idiotic scheme of theirs was over with, the better. Eri remained where she was, staring at his back with a pained look on her face; clearly he had not forgiven her emotional blackmail just yet. In the past she hadn't minded so much when he got angry with her, but now she found it more distressing than she had ever thought possible.

Like Akira had predicted, Asou and Suga had already gone swimming on their own, while Hirayama was helping Yakumo and Sarah get settled in his usual unassuming manner. "Hirayama, you know how to swim, right?" Harima asked without preamble, walking over to them. The boy nodded and Harima said, "Well then let's go for a swim, you sure look like you could use some exercise. Guys aren't supposed to be all skinny." Hirayama looked at him questioningly for a second, but then he nodded again obediently and followed his senpai into the sea. "Looks like things are going according to plan," Akira observed with satisfaction while watching them go. "All we have to do now is wait and see."

As they headed out into the sea, Harima was thinking intently, trying to figure out how to bring the conversation round to what these girls wanted him to find out. _Should I ask him outright if he has a girl he likes? But he might not tell me if I ask out of the blue like that…Maybe I should talk about Imouto-san first, see how he reacts…not that this guy ever reacts to anything. Except when he's talking about Karasuma, he's usually shut like a clam. If only there was something in common between Karasuma and Imouto-san…_Then it hit him: the one thing Karasuma had in common with Yakumo was manga.

"Say, Hirayama, did you ever read Karasuma's manga?" he asked conversationally while they were swimming side by side. Unexpectedly, Hirayama was quite a good swimmer; Harima didn't even have to slow down so that he could keep up with him. "I bought them and read them when I came here," he answered, "but I'm afraid the story was a bit difficult to follow. Then again, I'm not as much into manga as Ooji-san, I rather prefer music. I understand they were considered to be really good though, isn't that right?"

"Oh, damn right they were good," Harima said in a rare display of enthusiasm. "I wish I had half his talent…we are the same age, but I'm a total novice compared to him," he added wistfully. Hirayama was listening to him with rapt attention; he was obviously happy to hear his best friend praised so much. Well, it wasn't like Harima was lying; he really did look up to Karasuma as an artist and had been greatly inspired by his work. "Let me tell you, I've never seen anyone draw as fast as this guy. It might be because of that sickness of his, but still it was amazing. I can only hope I'll reach that level one day; the way I am now, I would have missed half my deadlines if I didn't have Imouto-san assisting me."

"Oh, so Tsukamoto-san is drawing manga as well?" Hirayama asked calmly. "Well, I asked her to help me out once when I was really pressed for time, and it kind of caught on," Harima said. "Before I knew it, she had become my regular assistant. Not that I have a problem with that, mind you, I couldn't ask for a better helper. She's really good at this."

"That's quite admirable," Hirayama remarked with the same composure. "Tsukamoto-san is indeed a very gifted person." _Does that mean he likes her or not? Argh, I'm really not cut out for this kind of thing,_ Harima thought irritably. "So…um, you'd fancy a girl who can draw?" he blurted out, instantly realizing how stupid that sounded. Hirayama, however, didn't seem at all surprised by this unexpected question. "It's not something I particularly ask for in a girl, but I wouldn't mind it either," he said calmly. "O-oh, I see," said Harima, feeling more awkward by the second. "What I meant is whether you prefer career girls or housewife-type girls," he went on, desperately trying to find out at least something about this guy's preferences he could pass on to these girls. If he came back empty-handed, he'd never hear the end of it from them.

"It doesn't really matter to me, as long as they do something that makes them happy," Hirayama replied with equal calmness. _Damn, this really isn't getting me anywhere,_ Harima thought, his frustration by now reaching record heights. "Well there must be _something _you look for in a girl," he finally asked outright, losing his patience.

Hirayama gave him a measured stare and then said, "Of course, but what we look for in other people isn't necessarily understood by them, is it, senpai…You of all people should know that." After a brief pause he went on, "I suppose if I had to pick something, I'd say I would like a girl who would trust me and at the same time have no illusions about me."

Harima stared silently back at him for a few seconds, then nodded and resumed his swimming. This at least he could understand, he thought to himself. It would be a blessing to have someone you could be completely open with, without the need to conceal any of your character aspects. But still, what Hirayama had said wasn't nearly any indication as to whether he liked Yakumo or not. "Um, what about looks," he asked again after a short while. "You don't mind at all what a girl looks like?"

"I haven't thought about it that much…but I suppose it would be nice if she looks good in a kappa suit." "K…_kappa suit_?" Harima asked incredulously, positive that he had heard wrong. "Yes," Hirayama said. "Ooji-san said once that only a kappa suit can really bring out a girl's cuteness. Personally I've never seen a girl dressed in a kappa suit, but if Ooji-san says so, that's how it must be," he concluded earnestly. Harima decided then and there he was done with the questioning; that last piece of information he could certainly have done without. "Kid," he said firmly, "I know you think the world of Karasuma's opinion, but for the love of God promise me you'll never go about dressing women in kappa suits." "Um…all right, senpai," Hirayama said simply, without questioning his request at all. "Thank you," Harima said gratefully. "You have no idea how much this means to me." _I still don't have a clue whether this guy likes Imouto-san or not, but at least she'll never be in danger of being dressed up in a kappa suit._

For the next half-hour or so they didn't say anything further, just swam together quietly. Harima was thankful for Hirayama's silence; he really appreciated a guy who didn't find it necessary to talk all the time. It was one of the reasons he had enjoyed Karasuma's company last year as well; he certainly was glad his childhood friend resembled him in that regard. Might as well relax a bit now, he reckoned, since once he got out to the beach again those infernal girls wouldn't give him the time of day.

After about an hour of continuous swimming, they got out again, feeling pleasantly tired. Asou and Suga had got out as well and were sitting together with the girls, while Hanai was still out swimming, struggling with his self-appointed quest to impress Yakumo. Just like Harima expected, as soon as they made sure his absence would pass unnoticed, Akira, Mikoto and Eri dragged him off to question him about what he had learnt. Problem was, he didn't really have that much to tell them.

"So? Did Hirayama-kun say what he thinks of Yakumo?" Mikoto asked impatiently the minute they were out of earshot. Harima frowned a little; from his countenance it was evident to the girls he hadn't been all that successful in his mission. "He didn't really say much," he said glumly. "In fact, all he said is that Imouto-san is a gifted person."

The girls looked at each other perplexedly; just like him, they didn't know what to make out of this statement. "W-well then, did he say if he has a girl he likes?" Mikoto asked again. "Or at least what kind of girl he likes?"

He shook his head. "It doesn't seem like he has one…and I did try to get him to talk about his preferences, but he was pretty vague about it."

"Geez, Hige, did you find out _anything_ at all?" asked Eri, exasperated. "…One thing's for sure," he said after a moment's hesitation. "He'll never make Imouto-san wear a kappa suit."

For one long minute the girls just stared at him, completely baffled. "Harima…are you sure you don't have heatstroke or something?" Mikoto asked in a concerned voice. "I'm fine," he said irritably. "Look, I know how crazy it sounds, but if you think you can get anything more out of this guy, by all means be my guest." And with that, he abruptly turned his back to them and returned to the rest of the group, leaving them staring at each other in confusion.

"Ah, forget it," sighed Akira after his departure, bringing a hand to her forehead. "It was too much to expect Harima to pull this one off anyway; Hirayama-kun probably saw right through him."

"So, what do we do now?" Mikoto asked. "Not much we can do," Akira replied. "For my part, I'll watch over Yakumo as much as I can, and if anything comes up…then we'll see."

"Doesn't sound like much, but it's not like we have much of a choice," Eri agreed. "Come on, let's get back to the others; they'll be wondering what has become of us."

They returned to the group just when a panting and thoroughly exhausted Hanai literally crawled out of the sea and proceeded to collapse under one of the umbrellas. Mikoto sighed heavily at the sight of him, and went to dig a paper fan out of the beach bags. "That Hanai…" she mumbled dolefully, and then settled down beside him and started fanning him. Much as he drove her insane with his antics, she just couldn't help wanting to take care of him.

The rest of the group dispersed a little after that; Asou and Suga went with Yakumo and Sarah to play with a beach ball at the edge of the sea, and Harima went to get snacks and drinks for lunch, accompanied by Hirayama. He wasn't all that willing to go at first but after one of Eri's death glares he thought better of it and set off, grumbling something about 'bitchy rich girls who have no consideration of others' between his teeth. Eri let out an involuntary sigh as she saw him go; she didn't want to be harsh to him in the first place, but…for some unknown reason he made her react that way more than anyone else. She had often wondered why that was, but the one thing that had never occurred to her was that she might be angry at herself for not being honest with her feelings and took it out on him.

Seeing her troubled face, Akira motioned her to sit down beside her under the other umbrella, a little further from Mikoto and the unconscious Hanai. "Eri…I'm sorry about what happened earlier," she said straight out, looking at her friend with concern. "We caused you a lot of trouble, didn't we?"

Eri sighed once again. "Don't worry about it, Akira," she said. "Hige and I are always like that, you know it." She gave a bitter smile. "It's not like he was on the verge of confessing or anything."

"So, how are things between you now, anyway?" Akira asked. "Nothing has changed since your engagement?"

Eri stared at her friend thoughtfully. "Nothing…no, I wouldn't say that," she said slowly. "We still fight, as I'm sure you've noticed, but…we did get to talk a couple of times like normal people, and…he seems more willing to tell me about himself than before. I'm not sure how to say this…but I think he lets his guard down more around me. Aside from that, though, there hasn't been much of a change."

"In other words, he now sees you as a friend, but not as a woman," Akira said succinctly. Eri sighed yet again and nodded dejectedly; much as she hated to admit it, Akira had nailed it on the head as usual. Out of all men in the world, she had to go and fall in love with the one who did not see her as a woman. What on earth had she done to deserve being afflicted with such a curse?

"Do you plan to do anything about it then?" Akira went on to ask, interrupting her depressed thoughts. "What can I do?" Eri asked in turn, shaking her head sadly. "It's not like I can change who I am…and I really suck at acting cute. If I tried it, I would probably end up freaking him out."

"Yes, acting cute definitely doesn't suit you," Akira admitted. "And I don't think repressing your personality is a good foundation for a relationship anyway. In my opinion, you should try to win him over with your own good qualities."

"I agree, but my good qualities just don't seem to cut it so far," Eri said gloomily. "The thing is…he's the kind of guy who doesn't easily change his impression of others. It took a year and a beating just to make him consider me a friend…I simply can't think what would it take for him to consider me anything more than that."

"It's true that Harima is not easily swayed in his opinions," Akira agreed with her. After a few minutes of brooding, she said hesitantly, "There's always _that_, of course, but in your case…"

Eri raised her head abruptly. "_That_?" she asked with no little curiosity. "What are you talking about, Akira?"

But Akira shook her head. "No, forget about it," she said. "It's not something you'd want to do anyway, not to mention that if it fails you'll probably be worse off than you are now."

"It doesn't get much worse than the way things are between us right now," countered Eri incisively. "And as for what I would and wouldn't want to do, I'll thank you to let me be the judge of that. You just tell me what you have in mind; I promise I won't get mad, whatever it is," she went on, with a hint of desperation in her voice. If there was anything at all that could make Hige look her way, she definitely wanted to hear about it.

Akira looked at her friend's agonized face and sighed in resignation. "Very well…to put it simply, I was thinking about skinship."

"Skin…ship?" asked Eri uncertainly; she had never heard that particular word in Japanese before. "Wh…what is that?"

"You know, skinship. Body contact. Letting him see something he normally wouldn't be able to see…or touch somewhere he normally isn't supposed to touch."

For a few seconds, Eri just stared at her wide-eyed; then, as the full meaning of Akira's words sank in, her face became redder than a ripe tomato and her pigtails practically stood on end. "Wh-what are you saying?" she burst out, so flustered it was bordering on comical. "I – I – I c-could never do something so embarrassing! A-and in any case, Hige hates loose women! If I were to do something like this, he'd think I'm a total slut!"

"I never said to strip in front of him or start clinging to him," Akira said impatiently. "This could only work if you're subtle about it; make it look like an accident or something."

Eri calmed down a little, understanding what her friend meant, but then she shook her head violently again. "No – no way, I could never put up such an act," she said. "I'm just not capable of doing such a thing naturally; even an idiot like him would see that I'm faking it. A-and besides, something so indecent…no, no, no, it's impossible for me. Absolutely impossible."

"I know, that's why I said to forget about it," Akira said. "It's much too bold, not to mention risky. It would be probably better to just keep being yourself, without trying to rush things between you two."

Eri nodded in agreement and the conversation ended there, the rest of the party not long afterwards gathering together for lunch. But for the rest of that day, Eri was hardly conscious of what went on around her; she played, talked and laughed together with the others, but inwardly all she could think about was that skinship talk. Of course she could never degrade herself like that for a man; it was completely out of the question, she kept telling herself. Besides, if he got wind she did such a thing on purpose…she'd never be able to live it down, not to mention their situation would be beyond unsalvageable. But for all her reasoning, every now and then a nagging 'what if' crept into her head. _What if it worked? What if…I could make him look at me differently?_ The fact that right now they were not on the best of terms certainly wasn't helping; he was still being cold to her, and every time he brushed her off or gave her a cutting response she became a little more desperate. To her surprise she realized she could make a lot more concessions in his case than she had ever thought possible, if that would make them get back to normal at least. But even so…she didn't think she could work up the courage to do something so bold. And even if she did…how would she go about it, with everyone else around? Akira had said to make it look like an accident…but how? Then it occurred to her that she was actually considering it, and she panicked beyond words. What was she thinking, actually making plans to come on to him? And this went on and on in her head all day long, tormenting her…By the time they retired for the night, her nerves were so frayed she could barely keep her composure in front of the others.

Just like they had done last year, they had opened the sliding door separating their rooms and slept all together in one room. Unlike last year, though, this time around the guys were far less inclined to try something with the girls. Hanai did make a half-hearted attempt to get close to Yakumo, but she was under heavy guard, with Sarah and Akira sleeping on either side of her. With his morals preventing him from doing anything too forward, he soon gave up and went to sleep. The others were even less active than that, since they were too decent or – in Harima's case – too uninterested to try anything. With no Tenma-chan to tempt him, Harima might as well be sleeping in a Buddhist temple instead of a room with five girls. He curled up in his futon at the end of the room, directly against the wall, and in a matter of minutes was out like a light. By chance, Eri's futon was also alongside the wall, directly opposite his, but he didn't even seem to notice. Even though he slept so close to her, he had never felt so far away, Eri thought dejectedly before falling asleep.

She did not sleep well that night, all sorts of unpleasant dreams haunting her sleep, and at around six in the morning she woke up, unable to sleep anymore. For some reason, she was feeling restless…she couldn't remain lying down, but didn't feel like getting up and going out either. Propping herself up on her elbow, she cast a look about the room; everyone but her was sleeping soundly. Of course, that included Harima too; he was sleeping on his side, his back leaning against the wall, one arm folded across his chest and the other extended on his side at a right angle. He was so close…and yet there was nothing she could do.

Or…maybe not quite nothing. As she was looking at him, out of the blue an idea came to her; she could try that skinship thing now! Embarrassed by her own boldness, she tried to push the thought away, but just couldn't do it. It was a perfect opportunity; all she had to do was get close to him, pretending she had moved in her sleep. He'd never blame her for being a restless sleeper, right? Even if someone else woke up, she wouldn't be held responsible for something she had done in her sleep. In any case, she wasn't going to do anything much, she reasoned, just lie there by his side. She had done that before, that time when they had run away from her arranged marriage and spent the night in that abandoned temple. Of course at the time she didn't know it was him, but she felt she could handle at least that much. Casting away her last scruples, she got up on all fours and noiselessly crawled up to him.

After taking another look around to make sure no one else had woken up, she focused her attention on his sleeping form, her heart just about ready to jump out of her chest at what she was about to do. With great effort, she forced herself to calm down and plan her next actions carefully. First off, how exactly should she lie…after thinking about it a little, she decided it would look more natural if she lay the way they slept before, that is head to head. She figured it would look more like she had moved in her sleep if she didn't deviate much from her sleeping position. Then, where should she put her head…she didn't want to be too close to his face, or he might kiss her by mistake in his sleep, which she definitely didn't want. On the other hand, if she lay too low, her face would be getting close to certain parts of his she really didn't want seeing up close. Last but not least, she had to restrain his hands somehow; she'd never be able to feign sleep if he felt her up, even by accident. Having taken everything into account, she proceeded to put her plan in action. _I must be out of my mind to do something like this, but…here goes nothing._

Gingerly, she lay on her side on top of his extended arm, very careful not to wake him. According to her plan, her head was below his, facing his chest, which meant her cleavage, too, was in his direct line of sight. Well, since she wore her yukata and nothing much was visible, she supposed she could live with that. His extended arm was trapped underneath her, thus rendered pretty much useless, and she folded her arms above her head, pinning his other arm into place. Of course, she would never be able to restrain him if he really wanted to push her off, but at least she could pretend to wake up before he actually tried anything. As a last precaution, she threw her long hair in front of her face, to keep it hidden from view. Not even he would believe she was asleep if he saw her blush, and she had a feeling it would be next to impossible to refrain from blushing.

_I did it. I can't believe it, I actually did it._ For a few seconds, she was certain the pounding of her heart would be enough to wake him, but he didn't stir. Not daring to move even a muscle, Eri stayed perfectly still, trying to get accustomed to this entirely new barrage of sensations. Feeling the warmth radiating from his body, breathing in his scent…it was nigh overwhelming for her. But she clenched her teeth and ordered herself to calm down no matter what. She'd never be able to convince him she was asleep if she could not keep herself in check, she reminded herself sternly. When a few seemingly endless minutes had passed and she had finally begun to feel at least partly in control, she started thinking about the next step. She had to wake him up somehow; there wouldn't be much of a point to this skinship if she was the only one aware of it. But he had to be the only one to wake up, which meant she couldn't afford to make any noise. Moreover, she had to be careful not to startle him too much; if he made any violent moves she would have no excuse to keep feigning sleep and the whole plan would go down the drain. After considering for a bit, she braced the top of her head against his chest and started pushing against it forcefully, every so often moving it slightly to apply pressure at a different spot. At first she wasn't sure if this would work, but after a few long moments she finally felt him stirring.

It was the sensation of a boulder having landed squarely on his chest that woke Harima up from a dreamless sleep. For some reason, the sensation did not go away upon waking up; he still felt a crushing weight pressing on his chest. Half-asleep, he tried to shift in order to relieve the pressure, but to his surprise, he could not move at all from the waist up; this realization rendered him fully awake. He opened his eyes and to his astonishment found himself staring at a girl's cleavage at point-blank range. Wondering whether he was still asleep, he blinked a few times – no, the cleavage was still there. Then, slowly, he became aware of other things as well – namely, that his arm was pinned under a girl's body, and that a girl's head was pressing against his chest. And the finishing blow came when he cast his eyes downwards and perceived a familiar shock of blond hair huddled next to his body.

"What the…Ojou? How the hell did she get here?" Eri heard him mutter incredulously. _This is it, girl, _she thought. _Don't lose it now; just pretend you're sleeping._ She shut her eyes tightly, even though he probably couldn't see them behind her hair, and forced herself to remain motionless.

Fortunately for her, Harima drew the exact same conclusion she meant for him to draw – that somehow she had moved over there in her sleep. They were lying pretty close to each other to begin with, and it never occurred to him even for a second that it might have been intentional – Ojou would never do such a thing, not in a million years. In any case, his chief concern at the moment was not how she got there, but how to get her off of him without waking her or anyone else up; he was sure that if he was caught in that sort of compromising position he'd be labeled a pervert all over again, not to mention Ojou would beat the living daylights out of him. That's why his heart was hammering in his chest right now, he thought, it was out of anxiety and fear of getting caught doing something indecent, definitely nothing more than that. Although that by no means accounted for the fact that he was currently dealing with the worst case of morning wood he ever had in his entire life.

But how was he supposed to get her off of him when he himself was more or less immobilized? That Ojou had gone out of her way to give him a hard time even in her sleep; she had gone and laid right on top of his arm – he could not even imagine how she had managed that – while his other arm was trapped underneath her head and hands, and he dared not pry it off for fear of waking her. And seeing as he was presently sandwiched between Ojou and the wall behind him, he didn't have any leeway to move his body away from her either. He could try pushing against her to make her roll over, but he'd practically have to shove his face in her cleavage to do that, and the thought of that kind of close contact with her…_Stop it. Don't even go there; don't you dare feel good having her so close to you. Think only how to get yourself out of this mess; nothing else._

After a few tortuous minutes of struggling between the awkwardness of the situation and a certain illicit excitement he was determined not to acknowledge, Harima finally settled on a course of action. His extended arm was trapped under Eri's body, but his hand was free from the elbow down; maybe he could try and pull her away from him enough to free himself. Unfortunately, the only thing he could grab hold of at this angle was the back of her yukata, so after a brief hesitation he grasped a fistful of it and started tugging at it.

_What on earth…don't tell me this idiot is trying to undress me? What is he thinking? Or rather, what was I thinking, trying something this stupid in the first place?_ thought Eri frantically when she felt Harima's hand pulling at her yukata. She had every reason to panic; the fabric was slippery, and the sash had loosened a bit because of her movements earlier, and as he was pulling from the center of her back, it was slowly starting to open. With her arms positioned above her head, she had no way of holding it in place, and she did not dare move around too much lest he realized she was awake. _Oh God, I wasn't planning on this! What am I supposed to do now?_ It was all she could do to stay put and not hit him or run away screaming at this point, and it was a miracle she managed even that. Harima on the other hand hadn't noticed just yet that Eri's yukata was opening up, focused as he was on the task of pulling her away from him. However, he noticed big time when, after a somewhat more vigorous tug, the yukata suddenly opened all the way and Eri's bare breasts sprang into view right in front of him.

_Oh no, I'm dead. If Ojou wakes up now, I'm so dead._ The situation before he might have been able to explain away, but right now it totally looked like he was trying to assault her. Even if he attempted to deny it he wouldn't convince anyone, not when his hard-on was visible from, like, a mile away. His fears notwithstanding, he could no longer refute the fact that the sight before him turned him on incredibly. After all, he wasn't made of iron, he was an eighteen-year-old made of flesh and boiling blood, there was no way he could not react when a girl's breasts were right before his eyes. And damn, they had to be just the way he liked them too – rather on the small side, although not flat, firm, supple and pure white, with adorable pink nipples that just begged to be sucked on. He could literally feel the blood rushing to his head – and another part of his anatomy as well – and it was only the thought that the others were sleeping right next to them that kept him from just mindlessly pouncing on her. Heart pounding and breath ragged, he shut his eyes tightly to keep the maddening temptation away, before he did something that would result in him suffering permanent physical damage at Ojou's hands.

At the same time, Eri felt her heart was going to stop any minute now, and her brain threatened to have a meltdown from embarrassment. Knowing that right now Hige was looking at her naked breasts…He was so close she could feel his breath on her skin; if he so much as moved over a bit, he'd be able to…Oh, it was unbearable to even think about it! Her entire body was on fire; she was afraid that even behind her hair he would see her flushed face and realize she wasn't sleeping at all. In an effort to further hide it from him, she turned her head a bit downwards…but that caused her to panic in a whole new way, since her eye caught a prominent bulge in Hige's yukata that definitely wasn't there before. _Calm down, _she told herself, digging her fingernails into her palms so hard she almost bled. _He's a guy; he's supposed to react this way. In fact, it'd be a problem if he didn't react this way,_ she tried reasoning, but for all her efforts she could feel she was this close to falling apart right there. Even though he hadn't so much as touched her, knowing that he was looking at her nude body and getting excited…it just felt so dirty. Burning with arousal and shame, she closed her eyes and instinctively curled her body a bit as if to cover her nudity. But that only made things worse, because she inadvertently closed the already minimal distance between them even more, and moved her nipple precisely at the spot where it would brush against Harima's lips…and then slip into his partly open mouth.

For a few seconds, both of them were frozen solid. Eri thought she would die of shame then and there, while Harima on the other hand thought he was a goner for sure. There was no way Ojou wouldn't wake up after this, and when she did…physical damage wasn't going to cut it anymore, she would definitely kill him with her bare hands. But the seconds stretched into minutes, and still nothing happened. Eri was on the verge of throwing a fit, but the thought of being exposed after having endured this much embarrassment steeled her and kept her silent. When Harima realized there was no sign of her waking up, he regained a tiny glimmer of hope again; he might be able to escape his impending death yet. Anyhow, seeing as Eri's nipple was inside his mouth now, there was no point in worrying about bringing his face close to her breasts; it didn't get any closer anyway. With a smooth, steady motion, he pushed against her to make her roll over. But Eri, not understanding his intentions at first, did not give way immediately, which resulted in her nipple being shoved further into his mouth and his tongue unintentionally licking over it.

It was an electrifying sensation for both of them. Eri shuddered from head to foot as she felt his tongue passing over her nipple, warm and wet and a little rough. Normally that would have given her away, but Harima was beyond noticing anything besides the tiny, sensitive bud underneath his tongue. He could feel it swelling and ripening in the heat of his mouth, and all of a sudden all his previous fears and inhibitions paled in comparison to the fiery desire that flooded his entire being.

_One more time. Just…once…more._ There was nothing unintentional about it this time around when he slowly swirled his tongue over her nipple again, savoring its taste and texture. But it wasn't enough; it would never be enough. He repeated the act again and again, then closed his lips around the succulent, perky nub and sucked a little, and Eri bit her lip hard to keep herself from moaning. Each stroke of his tongue was such sweet torture; part of her mind was screaming this had gone way out of control and she should stop him right now, but…an even greater part desperately wanted to throw everything to the wind and surrender to him. Lost in ecstasy, both of them had entirely forgotten where they were and with who, when a sudden movement and rustling of sheets coming from the direction of their sleeping companions brought them abruptly back to reality.

Fortunately no one had woken up; it was just Suga who had turned over in his sleep, but nevertheless it was a reality check both of them needed badly. Harima stopped moving his tongue around and decisively rolled Eri over, then slowly lifted his head and Eri's nipple popped out of his mouth. For a minute, he hovered above her, gasping for breath and flushed all over. She looked so enticing at that moment, her swollen, reddened nipple standing out deliciously against her fair skin, her silky blond hair all mussed up and her pink lips slightly parted, as if begging for a kiss…Restraining himself from taking her then and there was probably the most difficult thing he had ever asked of himself. With trembling hands, he closed her yukata and smoothed her hair away from her face. It was then that he noticed, considerably surprised, that Eri's face was every bit as flushed as his own.

"Huh? Why's her face so red?" Eri heard him mutter to himself, puzzled. For an instant, her heart stopped; after everything she had been through to feign sleep, he was going to figure it all out now? "Oh, must be because she was squished against me all this time. She must have been suffocating, and it's pretty hot in here too," she heard him say, and inwardly breathed an immense sigh of relief. Never in her life had she imagined a day would come when she'd be so thankful that Hige was an idiot.

She expected him to get up and leave after this, or at least move away from her, but unexpectedly she could feel he was still there, looming over her. She couldn't help but wonder what kept him from leaving, and at last, unable to withstand her curiosity, she dared to open her eyelids just a crack to take a peek. He was propped on his hands directly above her, staring at her intensely with a ravenous, wanton expression she had never seen on his face before. Then, abruptly he leaned towards her, and she shut her eyes again in panic. "Forgive me, Ojou," he breathed almost inaudibly, "but it's your own damned fault for tempting a man like that." And like a flash he bent down and she felt his lips press on the base of her throat, nipping lightly. A second later, he was up on his feet and rushing out of the room to the inn bath. He was in dire need of a cold shower – a very long one.

When she was certain he was gone, Eri sat up and looked around cautiously. Everyone seemed to be still sound asleep; actually only about twenty minutes had passed since she had woken up, although to her it felt like hours. She silently crawled back to her futon and pulled the sheet up over her head, not daring to believe that the most agonizing and at the same time most exciting minutes of her life were finally over.

To say that she was unable to settle down after that experience would be the understatement of the century. She was completely shell-shocked by what had happened; every place where Harima's mouth had touched her was permanently etched in her memory, she could pinpoint the exact spots where his goatee had tickled her skin. His reaction to her…she still could not work her mind around it. Certainly she had hoped for _some_ sort of reaction, and it was admittedly a good thing he had not remained stone-cold indifferent to her like he had in the past, but even so…to think that stoic Hige would do something so naughty…Well, he _was _a man, and she had, albeit unintentionally, tempted him quite a bit, but still it was no little shock for her. But what had shocked her even more was her own response to his actions. A few short months ago she would have sent him flying if he so much as tried to lay a hand on her, but now she had allowed him to touch her so intimately, and with her friends sleeping right next to them too! Even if she claimed she had endured it so as not to get found out, it did not change the fact that it was she who initiated this intimacy…or that towards the end she had no wish for him to stop, more like she sincerely hoped he would carry on forever. She was so completely immersed in enjoying his touch, that she would not have minded if he had been even more forward than that…not even if he…

That notion made her flush so hotly she thought her head would blow up, and she turned over and buried her face in her pillow as though never wanting to look up again. It was simply inconceivable that she who had despised the advances of men for so long would now relish a man's touch so thoroughly. Granted, Hige was a special case, but maybe he was even more special to her than she knew. In any case, it seemed that Akira was right: skinship did work. Unfortunately, it worked both ways; Eri fully realized now that any more of this and she might lose any hold she had over herself. It was painfully obvious to her that she had no immunity against him whatsoever; forget fighting him off, she might not even utter a word of protest if he tried to touch her like that again. However, she thought it highly unlikely he would start anything on his own; he had probably gone that far only because he believed her to be asleep in the first place. As long as she did not pull such a stunt again, she'd most likely be safe enough. Eri decided it would be for the best to follow Akira's advice from now on; just be herself around Harima, without doing anything rash she might regret later. Holding on to that resolve, she earnestly begged God's forgiveness for her misguided actions, and after a while finally managed to calm down enough to fall asleep.

Only, poor Eri didn't know that God sometimes tends to be very unforgiving, not to mention with a twisted sense of humor.

SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR

A few hours later, when everyone had got up and had their breakfast, they went down to the beach again to get started on those swimming lessons. Both Eri and Harima were unusually quiet that morning, although they tried their best to behave as normally as possible; Eri was still feeling agitated after what had transpired between them in the morning, and as for Harima…he had barely started to get it back together again. After he had left, or more like fled the room, he had headed straight for the bath and stayed under a freezing cold shower until he could no longer feel his skin before finally regaining some measure of his reason and self-control. He was only too aware of the insolence of his actions just now; he still found it hard to believe he had gone and done something so unseemly, and to Ojou of all people too. Sure, the temptation was way more than any guy was expected to endure – man, those breasts of hers were a work of art – but even so, taking advantage of a sleeping girl like that…it was totally inexcusable. If she had caught him in the act and beaten him within an inch of his life it would have been no more than his just deserts, he thought guiltily. But what truly scared him out of his wits was that the moment he touched her he forgot himself completely; his fear of her, sense of propriety, awareness of the others' presence, everything had evaporated from his head, leaving behind only an aching, burning need to possess her entirely. He wasn't sure what to call this intense, overwhelming feeling, but he did know he had no power against it, and that frightened the heck out of him. If he ever lost his head like that again…he really couldn't tell what he might do to her. Fortunately, such a thing would probably never happen again, he reasoned; the only reason he had this kind of contact with Ojou was because she had moved near him in her sleep, and what were the odds of that happening a second time? Clearly, the best thing to do here was to forget this ever happened; given time, the impression this incident left in his mind would fade away and they would be just like they always were. Having made this decision, when he went back to the others and saw her again, he tried his best to act normal around her. Naturally, he did not treat her nearly as badly as the day before; after what he had done to her, he felt too guilty for that. He kept his distance from her, but his attitude was visibly softened.

Of course Eri could not help but notice this after all the pain his previous harshness had caused her. He was rather reserved but polite, almost apologetic. _Maybe he's feeling guilty about what happened? Well, he should be, after doing all those things to me…But I was the one who started it in the first place, so I guess I'm at fault too…Let's just say we're even and put it behind us once and for all,_ she thought to herself. Unbeknownst to them, at the time they both wanted nothing more than to get their relationship back to the way it was.

When they got down to the beach, Akira announced they would be drawing lots to determine which guy would be teaching which girl. How she managed to rig the lottery was anyone's guess, but rig it she did, because the pairs that came out could not possibly be a coincidence: Akira herself was paired with Suga, Sarah with Asou, Yakumo with Hirayama, Mikoto with Hanai and of course, Eri with Harima. The pairings were mostly accepted without objections; only Hanai tried suggesting that, since Mikoto already knew how to swim, he should go and help with Yakumo-kun's teaching instead, but Mikoto would have none of it. "I'm sure Hirayama-kun can teach Yakumo just fine," she said firmly. "Besides, I haven't practiced swimming at all since last year, and I need to improve my style," and with that, she dragged him forcefully out to the sea. The rest of the couples were more casual about it; Sarah went with Asou without hesitation, chatting with him with cheerful familiarity. Yakumo, too, followed Hirayama-kun quite willingly and despite the fact they were mostly quiet, they seemed to get along well. As for Akira, she went and settled under her umbrella just like she had done last year. "Um, Takano-san…when would you like to get started?" Suga asked hesitantly. "I would prefer to see a demonstration first, Suga-kun, so go ahead and start swimming." Poor Suga did not dare disobey her so he went in and started swimming on his own, although he felt kind of ridiculous to be doing so. Clearly Akira had no intention to learn swimming any time soon. Having settled comfortably, she directed her eyes to the pair that interested most at the moment, which was Eri and Harima. She had expected them to grumble or protest about being paired together like they usually did, but to her surprise neither of them said anything; Harima for one was feeling way too guilty to object, not to mention he didn't have any particular preferences in the matter. As for Eri, she could not help thinking how funny things turned out sometimes; last year she had not let him teach her any swimming, because she was embarrassed after having walked in on him while he was naked and he had tried to stop her from making a scene by grabbing her and covering her mouth. The irony was that this year he had done something a lot more embarrassing to her, and yet she had no choice but to let him teach her; she wasn't supposed to be aware of what had happened between them, and if she refused him without reason he might suspect something.

"Umm…you ready to go in?" Harima asked tentatively. "Y-yeah, sure," replied Eri timidly and followed him in. When the water reached up to her chest, he stopped and said, "…Okay, why don't we start here," and held his hands out to her. Eri took them, blushing a little, but unexpectedly she felt less awkward than she thought she'd feel. Well, to some degree it was understandable; after having endured him licking her breast, holding hands didn't seem that big of a deal anymore.

"Now that I've got you, you can let your feet go," he instructed her. Eri obeyed and lay face down in the water, holding on to Harima's hands. "Good, now start kicking with your legs," he said and started stepping backwards, pulling her along. Eri cast her eyes down and did as instructed.

For a long while, they were absorbed in their respective tasks without talking or even looking at each other; Harima's eyes were fixed persistently out into the sea, while Eri kept hers down and mostly closed, to prevent salt water from getting into them. Needless to say, they were both feeling quite awkward, each for their own reasons, so neither of them made even the slightest attempt at small talk. Gradually, Eri began to relax a bit; it was rather soothing to think of nothing and just kick away mechanically with her legs, floating aimlessly with her eyes closed and nothing but the sound of the waves in her ears and the feeling of the cool water against her skin…

…Wait a second. Was it just her or had the water become kind of cooler all of a sudden? At some point, Eri became aware of an especially cold sensation around her chest area. At first she thought it was a cold current or something, but it did not seem to go away; and what's more, she felt that something else was off too, but could not quite put her finger on it. Curious, she opened her eyes and looked down at herself; and she was shocked to see that her bikini top had somehow disappeared. And then all hell broke loose.

"Kyaaaaah!" she screamed hysterically, tearing her hands away from Harima's in order to cover herself. Unfortunately, this was a very bad idea at this point; because neither of them had been paying much attention to where they were going, they had inadvertently wandered into deeper waters than they had intended. At their current position, the water reached up to Harima's neck, which meant he could still stand upright in the water without difficulty, but Eri's feet no longer touched the bottom. Consequently, as soon as she let go of his hands, she immediately started drowning.

"What the hell…Ojou, what's wrong?" asked Harima in alarm, startled by Eri's sudden bout of hysteria. Fearing she'd drown any second, he tried to grab her hands again, but she wouldn't let him. "No! Get away from me!" she shrieked, alternately drowning and kicking at him with all her might to keep him away from her. Seriously worried now, he made up his mind quickly; he had to do something and fast, or she would drown right there before his eyes. Decisively, he dove underwater and a second later emerged right next to her. In an instant, he had his strong legs locked around hers to prevent her from kicking, and his arm around her waist to hold her and make sure she stayed above the water. As she needed her hands to cover her exposed breasts, she could no longer fight him off, but even so she kept thrashing about screaming, desperately trying to escape from his grasp.

"Ojou, cut it out!" he shouted angrily in her ear. "I don't know what the hell's gotten into you, but if you keep this up you're going to drown us both!" The sound of his voice broke through Eri's panic and she stopped struggling, but she did not calm down either. Being bared in front of him like this again, and right after what had happened in the morning too…such humiliation was more than she could bear! Covering herself as best as she could with her hands, she faced away from him and burst into tears. She absolutely hated crying in front of others, and even more so in front of him, but she just couldn't hold it in any longer.

Harima was completely stunned by this unprecedented outburst of hers. It didn't take him more than a few seconds to realize something was seriously wrong; he had never seen Ojou lose it like that before, and he knew well that she'd never act like this without a very good reason. But more than that, he wanted to soothe and comfort her; seeing her crying her heart out like this was extremely painful to him. "Hey, come on," he said gently while awkwardly stroking her hair with his free hand, "calm down, talk to me. What's going on here?" At that moment, even though they were pressed even closer than in the morning, not one indecent thought crossed his mind; his sole concern was how to make her feel better.

Eri did not answer him immediately; she couldn't really, seeing as her entire body was raked by sobs. For several minutes she struggled to speak, but no words would come out; losing her swimsuit was bad enough, but having to tell Hige about it too…it was just too much! And yet she had no choice but to tell him; he'd find out sooner or later anyway, and she couldn't run away from him this time – she needed him to get back to the beach again. Still sobbing loudly, she finally managed to stutter, "M-my…my b-b-bikini top…it's gone!" followed by a fresh outburst of tears.

"Oh fucking hell." Harima blushed profusely – a rare sight for him – and quickly averted his eyes from her, even though he couldn't really see anything much; even in that state of agitation, Eri was most meticulously covering herself. But it didn't really matter that he could not see;just _knowing _she was more or less naked right next to him was more than enough. Seriously, what was it with Ojou's breasts today? He knew it was just a coincidence, but it almost felt like he was being targeted by them! But the worst was that her current state of undress inevitably brought the memories of this morning right back to his mind, and to his horror he felt his lower half stirring to life once again. _Damn it, this is NOT the time to get horny! I have a serious problem on my hands here, and no matter what I can't have Ojou freaking out again!_ Trying his utmost to quell his inopportune excitement – or at least to keep Eri from getting wind of it – he said quickly, "Look, I – I didn't see anything, okay? I mean they're underwater, and I didn't really look in the first place, and – anyway, I had no idea until you told me." _Not that I'd see anything I haven't already…but there's no way I can tell her that._

After giving her a couple more minutes to compose herself a little more, he said again in a soothing voice, "O-okay, let's calm down, take a deep breath and try to think this through. Do you have any idea at all how long ago you lost it?" But Eri shook her head immediately. "N-no, I don't," she said in a still trembling voice. "I had kind of zoned out for a while, and by the time I realized what happened…it was already gone," she added, her eyes welling up all over again.

Harima puckered his brow and thought intently for a bit. "Then…let me at least see if I can spot it somewhere. It's white, so if it's floating anywhere around here I might be able to see it. You stay down, okay?" He let go of her legs and drew himself up to his full height, holding her by the waist at his side. Shading his eyes with his free hand he looked towards the beach first – no luck there. Then he looked to their left, and then to their right, but still nothing. His heart sinking, he finally turned around towards the ocean, and to his immense relief he spotted something white floating about two hundred meters away from their current position. Hoping to God it was the real thing and not some trash that was washed out, he said, "Oh, I think I see something over there."

"Where, where?" asked Eri eagerly, craning her neck. "There," he said, pointing at the white thing, and Eri beside him gave a small squeal of joy. "Oh, I think this must be it!" she said excitedly, but then, perceiving the distance between them and their target, her face clouded once again. "But how are we ever going to get it…it's so far away, and the water's even deeper out there,"she said with evident disappointment.

Her concerns were very reasonable, Harima admitted to himself. If he were on his own he could reach that swimsuit in a matter of minutes, but if he let go of Eri even for a few minutes she would drown for sure. "How about I take you a bit further out where you can stand, and then go back to get it?" he suggested. But Eri shook her head violently. "No way! I can't go out like this; people will see me!" At this hour, the beach was quite crowded, and there were a good many people in the sea, playing in the shallow water. "Yeah, I suppose you're right," Harima said. "Besides, if I lose sight of it I may not be able to find it again." He fell silent once more, thinking intently. If he couldn't leave her there, the only other option was to take her along with him, but how…He could not pull her by the hands all the way there like he had done so far, because soon enough his own feet would not reach the bottom either. He could carry her on his back, but she'd need both hands to hold on to him, which meant her presently bare breasts would rub directly on his back…no, impossible. He'd probably die of severe blood loss long before they got to that damned swimsuit. "…There's only one way," he said slowly, after several minutes of intense deliberation. "We have to swim to it."

"B-but Hige, I don't know how to swim!" Eri protested. "You wanted to learn, didn't you? Well, now's as good a time as any," he replied. After a brief hesitation, he went on to say, "The thing is…you're going to need both your hands for this."

"B-but if I use both my hands…then I'll be…that is, my b-breasts will be…completely exposed, won't they?" she said tremulously, blushing a deep shade of red. "You think I don't know that?" he said impatiently. "But we'll be lying face down, and I promise I won't look, and…Anyway, it's your decision, Ojou, but you better make up your mind quick, because I think the current's carrying it deeper."

After a moment's hesitation, Eri nodded decisively. "…Like you said, there's no other way," she said, regaining her usual spirit. "What do you need me to do?"

"Let's see…first, put your arm around my waist," he said, tightening his own grip around her. When they were securely locked together, he went on, "Now we're going to lie face down; don't be afraid, as long as we hold on to each other you'll be safe." Eri nodded, and Harima let his feet go, now both of them lying side by side face down in the water. "Here's what you're going to do," he told her. "Kick with your legs like you did just now, and move your other arm like this," and imitated the movement of the arms in breaststroke. "We have to synchronize our movements, so try to have your hand in the water while mine's up in the air. Think you can do that?"

"I'll try my best…but don't go too fast so I can keep up," Eri said. "Okay," he nodded. "Ready? Three, two, one, go!"

It was admittedly an odd and inconvenient form of swimming, but it worked. Of course they went much slower than Harima would on his own, but to his surprise Eri hindered him a lot less than he had thought. With a weaker girl, this task would be next to impossible; but Ojou was strong and athletic, not to mention determined to get to her swimsuit as soon as possible. Harima, too, was determined not to let her nudity distract him a second time, but his resolve was sorely tested because, every so often, something soft would brush against his side as they swam pressed together, and he didn't need to be a genius to figure out just what it was. He kept his mind resolutely focused on the task at hand, but apparently his body had other ideas, because soon he was sporting a full-fledged arousal despite the cold water. Seeing that Eri could keep up with him better than he thought, he redoubled his efforts; the sooner they got to that accursed swimsuit and Ojou was decently clad again, the better. This prolonged proximity to her naked body definitely wasn't good for his emotional stability.

"Got it!" Harima shouted triumphantly, grabbing the slip of white fabric and holding it tightly. He'd never thought he would be so glad to be holding a girl's swimsuit in his life, but then this day had been full of firsts for him. "Go on, put it on so we can get out of here," he urged, handing Eri her swimsuit. "I think you've had enough swimming lessons for one day."

"I sure have," agreed Eri, taking the swimsuit from him. "Um, could you hold me so I can put it on?" she asked shyly. Harima put his hands on her waist, holding her at arm's length, and turned his head the other way. "Just tell me when you're ready," he said nervously.

After several minutes of fumbling – it was quite hard to put the swimsuit on and knot the straps together while suspended in mid-water – Eri told him, "I'm ready now, but could you check if the knots are tight enough? I wouldn't want it to come off again…" Her voice trembled slightly; she, too, had been keenly aware of their closeness all this time, and her nerves were strained to their limits. Granted, Hige had been a real gentleman so far, he had not taken advantage of the situation in the slightest and he had been very considerate of her feelings too, but still all this exposure had been really trying for her, and now more than anything she wanted this whole embarrassing situation to end as soon as possible. Harima pulled her close and locked his legs around her again (taking care to leave some space so that she wouldn't feel his excitement) and tightened the knots in her straps as much as he could. "You should be all right now," he said, moving her to his side again. "Let's head back out, shall we?"

Eri nodded, and they started off swimming in the same fashion that had got them there. But after only a few strokes, Harima noticed that something was off; Eri was faltering now, she could no longer keep up with him. It was to be expected, really; she had spent quite some time kicking with her legs, and that had been followed by her hysterical fit and this strenuous swim all the way there. It was perfectly obvious that her stamina was depleted; she might be a strong girl, but she was still a girl and her endurance wasn't nearly as much as his own.

"You're tired, aren't you?" he asked her, stopping abruptly. "N-no, I'm fine," she gasped stubbornly. "Come on, let's keep going."

"Don't act all proud now," he scolded her. "It's still dangerous for you out here, and there's a limit to what you can do. Get on my back," he ordered, clearly not intending to tolerate any disobedience. Eri found herself unable to argue any further; although usually she was the one intimidating him, those few times when he became really assertive it was completely impossible for her to go against his will. It was one more thing that was special about him; aside from her father, he was the only man she had ever been inclined to obey. Without a word she climbed on his back and clutched at his sturdy shoulders, and he started swimming again. But this was one trying ride for Harima; he had carried Eri on his back before, but never with so few clothes on. He didn't really have a choice since she could no longer swim on her own, and he had hoped that since she had her swimsuit on now he wouldn't be as affected as before. Well, what do you know; the swimsuit didn't really make any difference. Eri's nipples were really stiff after the long exposure to the cold water, and he could feel them on his back as if she wore nothing at all. Needless to say, that made him remember all over again a whole lot of things he was trying to forget, and this only added fuel to the heat in his lower regions. Thankfully he was lying face down and Ojou had no idea just what he was going through right now, but if this went on for too long…Dreading to even dwell on that prospect, he swam as if his life depended on it in order to reach the shore as fast as possible. When they finally made it to shallower waters, he was pretty sure he had made a new personal record in swimming.

"You…should be okay from here…" he gasped, letting her off his back. "Get back to the others and take it easy for a while, all right? You had a really hard time just now."

"What about you, aren't you getting out?" asked Eri, concerned; Hige looked like he was going to collapse any minute now. But Harima shook his head resolutely; as if he could get out of the water the way he was right now. "No, I…I'd like to swim some more, so I'm staying in a bit longer," he insisted. "Are you sure? You look dead tired, you know," said Eri incredulously; Hige really looked like he could use some rest at the moment. "Nah, I'm fine," he reassured her. "This much is nothing for me. Anyway, you get out, and I'll join you later, okay?" And before she had a chance to argue any further, he turned his back and started swimming away from her as fast as he could.

Seeing that there was no convincing him to get out, Eri turned back and wearily made her way to their umbrellas; this ordeal had left her completely drained and now the only thing she wished for was to get some rest. Everyone else had already returned to the beach a long time ago, and they surrounded her anxiously as soon as she got near them.

"About time you showed up!" Mikoto exclaimed, obviously worried over her prolonged absence. "We were just about to go alert the lifeguards! What have you been doing all this time? And where's Harima?"

"Oh, we – we got too engrossed in practicing and lost track of time," Eri said, not daring to look her friend in the eyes – she really hated having to keep this from her friends, but there was no way she could tell them what actually happened. "Hige is still in there, he said he wanted to swim a bit more and he'll come out in a short while."

"Wow, this guy sure has stamina," remarked Mikoto, impressed. "I'm all beat after racing Hanai; he swims really fast. What about you, aren't you tired?"

"You bet I am," said Eri, "in fact, I think I'll take a nap until lunchtime." She flopped under one of the umbrellas and lay on her back, thankful that this nerve-wrecking trial was finally over. It was now her turn to feel guilty; she realized she had given Hige a really hard time with her antics, although, given the circumstances, she could hardly have helped herself. But if nothing else, she had to admit he had been very understanding and supportive, not to mention he had kept a cool head in a really dangerous situation. She could tell that he, too, had been quite unsettled by this whole affair, but he hadn't let his discomfort get the better of him, which was more than she could say for herself. He also hadn't acted at all improperly, like he had in the morning; it could be because he was more concerned about their safety at that moment, or maybe he was more wary of her when she was awake…whichever the case, it showed that even if he had those kinds of urges, he still could be trusted not to act on them without thinking. Now, if only she could trust herself not to lose her composure over every little thing he did, they might be able to go back to being friends at least.

She thought that none of her thoughts showed on her face at the time, but Akira knew her well enough to realize something was off. A little concerned, she went and sat down beside her, looking down at her as if trying to guess what she was thinking. "Are you sure everything's all right, Eri? You seem kind of troubled," she said with her usual straightforwardness. Then, leaning a bit closer, she added discreetly so as not to be overheard, "Are you still worried about that skinship thing?"

Eri opened her eyes and gave her friend a sour look. "Akira," she said, "I'm really grateful for your concern and everything, but I don't want to hear that word again for as long as I live." And with that, she grabbed a straw hat lying nearby and covered her face, determined to just sleep and ignore everyone around her, at least for the time being.

"What's going on?" Mikoto asked, coming near them; she hadn't heard their exchange, but from the look on Eri's face she too had guessed that something was wrong. "Is Eri angry about anything?"

"…I'm not sure," Akira said thoughtfully. "Something must have happened, but I can't tell if it was good or bad." She remained thoughtful for a few seconds, then shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well, I guess time will tell. There's still the courage test tonight after all."

"Are you going to pair them together again?" Mikoto asked conspiratorially. "Not just them," replied Akira. "To save time, we'll have the same pairs we had for swimming lessons."

"What – does that mean I'll have to be with Hanai again?" protested Mikoto. "Give me a break, Akira! Can't I be paired with someone else?"

"Like who?" asked Akira. "Eri will be with Harima, which means Yakumo will have to go with Hirayama-kun – he's the only other guy she's comfortable with. And you can't go with Asou-kun because he's your ex and it'll be awkward, so who else is left?"

"I could go with Suga-kun," suggested Mikoto. "Can't you swap with me?" "I refuse," said Akira adamantly. "Suga-kun is very conveniently obedient, and I'd like to keep him."

_Is that a way to talk about your classmate?_ Mikoto wondered inwardly, but she did not press the point any further. Secretly, she was not that averse to spending time alone with Hanai, although she had little hope anything productive would come out of it; but even so, the prospect made her a little happy.

After another half-hour of intense swimming, Harima finally emerged from the sea and rejoined the others. He was thoroughly exhausted, but thankfully more or less back to normal again. As he approached them, he noted with considerable relief that Ojou was asleep, which meant he wouldn't have to interact with her for the time being. He did not resent her for what had happened; it wasn't her fault to begin with, but after the emotional turmoil he had experienced he sure could use a reprieve before he faced her again.

SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR

Night had fallen, and it was time for the courage test Akira had set up to begin. The rest of the day had passed uneventfully; due to his exhaustion, Harima had wound up sleeping most of the afternoon, while Eri, too, opted not to engage in any physical activity and stayed on the beach chatting with the other girls instead (after the incident with her swimsuit she had no desire to get anywhere near the water again). After dinner, they all changed into T-shirts, shorts and sports shoes and gathered at the courtyard of their inn, which was the starting point. Akira pulled out a map and showed everyone the route they were to follow. It was a path going through a small but dense forest a little distance behind the inn. The pairs were to traverse the forest following the path, pass in front of an abandoned temple and finally return to the inn again; it was a course of about an hour. Akira told the rest that the pairs would be the same as this morning, which was generally accepted without comments, and that they would start with a ten-minute difference each. Then they drew lots to determine which order they would set off by; as it turned out, the first pair to go was Sarah with Asou, then Akira and Suga, then Mikoto with Hanai, then Eri and Harima, with Yakumo and Hirayama-kun bringing up the rear. Akira handed each pair a flashlight and the pairs set off in their arranged order.

When their turn came, Eri and Harima started off on the path, walking at a brisk pace. As usually, they didn't talk; both of them were still rather self-conscious after everything that had happened during that day. Normally Eri would be a bit afraid of the dark – although she didn't want to admit it – but after all those embarrassing events she just counted her blessings that this courage test would not involve any more undressing. Naturally, neither of them so much as suggested holding hands or anything of the sort; they merely walked side by side, just close enough for the flashlight beam to guide both of them. They were really in need of it at the moment; at the start of the test, there was also the moonlight to illuminate the way, but gradually heavy clouds had gathered and by the time their turn came the moon was completely hidden behind them and it was pitch black inside the forest. Shortly after they started off, Eri heard an ominous rumbling in the distance and looked up towards the sky worriedly; it was evident that a thunderstorm was brewing.

"I think it's going to rain," she said, troubled. Harima looked up in turn and nodded in agreement. "Let's move it," he said, "there's no shelter here and we'll get soaked to the bone." Accordingly, they picked up their pace, but despite their efforts they were not able to outrun the storm.

The rain broke out suddenly and furiously, pouring down on both of them. The trees did not provide much cover, and within minutes they were both drenched. Not having much of a choice, they walked as fast as they could on the now muddy and slippery path, when suddenly the ruined temple came into view. It was an age-old structure, half-covered with moss and vines, but at least its roof appeared intact. The rain showed no sign of letting up, and since the inn was still far off, they let themselves in through the dilapidated door to wait it out until the storm passed.

The temple consisted of a big chamber out front, and two smaller ones at the back, separated by a narrow corridor. Even though it was summer, it was quite chilly in there at night because of the thick stone walls, especially now, during the rain. Since they were both soaked through and through, they soon started getting cold now that they were no longer walking. After only a few minutes, Harima noticed with concern that Ojou was shivering violently. She did not complain, but he realized that they had to find some way to dry off even a little, otherwise she would inevitably catch a cold.

He cast his flashlight about the room they were in, but found nothing that could be of use to them. The temple had been abandoned decades ago, and there was nothing but rubble strewn across the floor. "Let's go check out the back rooms," he told Eri, "we may find a cloth or something to wipe ourselves off at least." Eri nodded and followed him, watching her step as much as she could; the floorboards were loose and broken here and there and creaked dangerously beneath their feet. In the first room they checked, they had no luck; if anything, it was even more ruined than the main chamber. The other was in little better condition, with rubble and wooden beams scattered all over the place as well and they were about to give up in despair when Harima's flashlight beam fell on something colorful heaped in a dark corner. It was an ancient, faded brocade tapestry, weather-worn and dusty, but big enough to cover both of them.

"This looks good enough to use," he said, picking it up from one corner and examining it. "Not as good as a towel, but it'll do. You should take your wet clothes off and wrap yourself in this until the storm passes," he told Eri, picking up the rest of it. She was a bit shocked at his suggestion; really, how could he tell a girl to take her clothes off so casually? Although come to think of it, he had done exactly the same thing with Tenma in last year's camping trip; when the circumstances called for it, he tended to be more practical than he was modest. In any case, she had to admit he was right; as shameful as stripping yet again was, it would not be wise to stay in those wet clothes. She got a bit nearer and examined the huge tapestry herself; it was not very wide but exceedingly long. "What about you, shouldn't you cover yourself?" she asked. He considered for a bit. "Well it is big enough for both of us," he concluded. "If I rip it in half we can have a piece each." "Oh, but this is…" Eri started saying, but Harima didn't listen. He grasped the tapestry from around the middle and started trying to rip it, but at first the fabric stubbornly refused to split. "Ungh…" he groaned, pulling at it with all his considerable strength. "I thought this silk thing would be easier to rip." "This is brocade, you ape," Eri said irritably. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. Tapestries like this one were supposed to hang all the way down from the ceiling, of course they're not that easy to rip." "Well excuse me for not knowing much about tapestries," he retorted sarcastically, panting with effort. "Never had one in my place before." Eri opened her mouth to answer him but was cut off by a forceful sneeze. "Whatever, just rip the darned thing before I freeze to death here," she said, sniffling her nose; the cold was becoming more biting with each passing minute, not to mention the rain was still coming down as heavily as ever. With a final tremendous effort, Harima ripped the tapestry in half and handed Eri the bigger piece. "Do you want me to go to the other room while you change?" he asked.

"You can't," she said sullenly. "We've only got the one flashlight, and it'll be dangerous to move around in the dark for either of us. Just go over there," she went on, pointing at the other end of the room, "and don't turn around until I tell you. If you so much as look this way you're dead, you got that?"

"I know already, geez," he grumbled and went over to the other side of the room, setting the flashlight on a shelf-like thing alongside the wall so that both of them would have some light. After glancing over her shoulder to make sure he wasn't looking her way, Eri put the tapestry piece on the floor and hesitantly took her T-shirt and shorts off. She debated for a few moments whether she should keep her bra on, but it was so drenched it had become completely transparent, not to mention it felt really unpleasant. Quickly, she took it off as well and took it along with the rest of her clothes to spread them out to dry a bit while they waited. There was a small window high up in the wall on her side, and squatting down she spread out her clothes on the floor near it, hoping that the draft would help them to dry faster. As she was spreading them out she heard a weird squeaking sound coming from the floor near her feet, but the flashlight was over to Harima's side and the little light that reached her was not nearly enough for her to see the cause of the sound. Just as she was finished spreading out the clothes and was about to stand up again to go get the tapestry piece, a flash of lightning illuminated the room for a second and Eri saw quite clearly just what was making the squeaking sound near her feet. It was a big, fat, ugly rat.

Now, Eri wasn't afraid of very many things, but she was absolutely terrified of rats. When she was little, her nanny in England used to tell her that if she didn't behave the rats would come at night when she was sleeping and bite her ears off. Of course when she grew up she realized this was just a made-up story, but despite that her irrational fear of rats still remained even to this day. It wasn't a fear she ever really had to confront, though; rats were a very unlikely occurrence in her luxurious mansion, so she hardly ever thought about it. But now, seeing the rat right next to her, her old fears revived once again, and her already strained nerves snapped completely. Letting out a horrified scream, she sprang up and dashed blindly over to the other side of the room, completely forgetting that at the moment she only had her panties on.

Hearing her scream, Harima (who had also removed his own clothes in the meantime and was wearing only his boxers) instinctively turned around sharply to see what was the matter now. "Ojou, what…Ugh!" he grunted as Eri crashed headlong into him, throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his chest without thinking. She was shaking from head to foot, and obviously not just because of the cold; it was clear that something had frightened her out of her wits. Impulsively, he wrapped his arms around her, embracing her protectively. "Hey, what happened?" he asked in a worried voice.

"There…make it go away!" she said in a strangled voice, pointing at somewhere behind her with her face still buried in his chest. "Make what go away?" he asked again, not understanding what had scared her so much. "Th-there's a rat over there – it's huge!" stammered Eri, shaking like a leaf in his arms. For a second, he stared at her incredulously – was that what all the fuss was about? He had heard about women being afraid of rats before, but he had never thought that Ojou would have such a weakness; she always seemed so strong and fearless. But somehow he was not all that displeased to find she had this vulnerable side to her.

He grabbed the flashlight he had set next to him and shone it in the direction Eri was pointing at, but he didn't see anything. "There's nothing there now," he said soothingly. "Anyway, that scream of yours probably scared away every rat in this temple," he went on half-jokingly, in an attempt to cheer her up and at the same time distract himself. Now that he had made sure there was no real danger, he suddenly became aware that, for the third time today, he was extremely close to a very little dressed and very, very enticing Ojou. In fact, this time was even worse than the others, because she had practically nothing on in the way of clothing and there wasn't even a minimum of distance between them; he was holding her tightly in his arms, her body quite literally plastered against his own. He could feel her soft breasts pressing against him and the silky smoothness of her skin under his hands, he could smell the sweet fragrance from her still wet hair. Everything about her was as if calculated to excite him above and beyond control…and to top it all off, all of a sudden he realized that his thigh was pushing against a slip of moist fabric…and something rather soft and squishy underneath. _Don't tell me…this is her…Damn it, Ojou, I know you're not doing it on purpose, but you're tormenting me here! How much stimulation do you think a man can take in one day?_ Fearing that he'd snap any minute now and ravish her, he quickly took two steps back, facing away from her. Struggling to keep at least his voice calm – as opposed to some other parts of his – he told her, "Um, for now go put that thing on before you catch a cold, will you?" and retreated hastily to put his own piece on while he was still in control of his actions.

Realizing what she had just done, Eri let her arms fall to her sides in shock, pale as a ghost and unable to utter a single word. _What did I do just now? Did I just hug Hige…naked? _Appalled by her actions as she was, she mistakenly interpreted Harima's hasty withdrawal as revulsion, and her shock turned into despair. _It's all over now, isn't it…he thinks I'm some cheap girl hitting on him like he used to, I'm sure of it! Maybe he even hates me…why else would he turn away from me like that? And after everything that happened today, and especially after what I did just now, who can blame him? Heck, I'd think the exact same thing in his place!_ With those desperate thoughts eating away at her, she mechanically walked over to the piece of tapestry that was meant for her and wrapped it tightly around herself, then sat down right there on the floor hugging her knees. The tapestry was not very wide, barely covering her from chest to hips, and she still felt quite cold, but right now the cold was the least of her worries. If Hige wanted nothing more to do with her from then on…the mere thought of that was enough to make her eyes well up all over again, and it was all she could do to keep the tears from falling.

Harima wrapped his own piece around himself – in his case, it covered even less, but it still beat staying in wet clothes – and then, hearing no sound from Ojou's direction, he cautiously stole a glance at her. Seeing her sitting on the floor, more or less decently covered, he took the flashlight and made his way towards her. As he got nearer, he was struck by the pained, hollow expression on her face and also the way she avoided his eyes when he looked at her. He wondered what she was upset for this time – maybe she was feeling ashamed of being so scared by a rat? Personally he didn't think it was anything to be embarrassed about, but he knew well how proud she was; he wouldn't put it past her to worry over something like that. Whatever the case though, he didn't like seeing her looking so dejected and he truly wished to make her feel better. After a brief hesitation, he went over to her and sat on the floor by her side. Eri flinched a little when she felt him sitting next to her but she did not look his way, persistently facing away from him.

Harima wanted to talk to her and somehow find a way to get her out of this bad mood, but he could not think of anything to say. Then he noticed that the skin on her back had goosebumps, and that she was still trembling from the cold. Well, if nothing else, he should at least warm her up a bit before she really caught a cold.

"Are you all right?" he asked her in an unusually gentle voice. "Y-yeah, fine," Eri said in a choked voice, not daring to look in his direction. "No you're not, you're shivering," Harima said in the same gentle tone. "Come on, let me help you warm up a bit." He tried to put his arm around her naked shoulders, but she jerked away from him.

Harima let out a sigh; he was right after all, Ojou _was _upset about something. Figuring the quickest way to find out what it was would be to ask her directly he said patiently, "Okay, let's hear it. What did I do this time?"

This unexpected gentleness of his, far from appeasing Eri, upset her even more. What did he mean by it, was he being nice to her out of pity now? Or was it because he felt obliged to be nice to a girl? Well she didn't want that! She wasn't anyone's charity case, if he despised her now he might as well ignore her and be done with it! "You didn't do anything," she muttered sullenly, still avoiding his eyes. Harima was starting to get kind of fed up with her attitude; he knew Ojou could be really stubborn at times, but so could he. "If you wanted me to buy that, you should've looked me in the eyes when saying it," he said with a hint of reproach. Then, reverting to his previous gentle tone, "Look, if you're still upset about that rat, it's nothing to be ashamed of, really. Everyone's got something they're afraid of; nobody would blame you for that." But instead of being comforted by his words, Eri grew more agitated by the second; really, what sort of cruel kindness was that? Was Hige only capable of being nice to her when he hated her or something? "Don't," she snapped at him, unable to contain herself any longer. "You don't have to act all nice to me when you feel nothing but contempt for me!"

For a second, Harima stared at her in wide-eyed astonishment; where the hell did _that_ come from? Then he drew his eyebrows together, glowering at her sternly. "Ojou, look at me. _Look at me_," he commanded tersely, and once again Eri could not help obeying and turned to face him. With just one look at his face, she was instantly startled out of her depression; his black eyes sparkled intensely with ire, and his deep voice, although calm on the surface, reverberated with barely suppressed anger.

"When exactly did I say any of that nonsense you've been spouting?" he asked her straight out, trying his utmost to retain his composure. Taken aback and a little scared by the intensity of his anger, Eri said in a shaky voice, "You – you didn't say it, but that's what you're thinking, isn't it? That – that I'm an easy girl who throws herself at men, like you said before. The kind of girl – you hate…" Her voice broke off and she looked down once again, swallowing hard to keep herself from crying.

Harima's countenance did not soften by her pitiful appearance; if anything, it darkened even further, and his scowl deepened. "Ojou, I believe we cleared that up a long time ago," he said in a very displeased tone. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I told you I no longer think that way about you. You better not be implying that I've been lying to you all this time."

Eri raised her eyes abruptly when she heard him say this, evidently taken by surprise. "No, I…I never thought that," she said earnestly. "But…after everything that happened today…you would have every reason to think that I'm…"

"Everything that happened today," Harima cut her off sharply, "was an accident. None of it was your fault, and I never blamed you for any of it. Are we clear on this, Ojou?" he asked, staring at her straight in the eyes.

Eri gazed back into his eyes, her heart suddenly light as a feather with relief. With just a few words, Hige had put her mind at ease again. And now that she knew his kindness was genuine, she was moved by it all the more; it meant so much to her that even after all those embarrassing scenes he still had a good opinion of her. She was on the verge of crying with happiness this time, but, not wanting to worry him again, she fought back the tears and answered him simply, "Yes, we're clear."

"If you get it," Harima said more softly, "quit being such a baby and let me help you warm up." Eri nodded and scooted closer to him, blushing a little. Putting his arm around her, he rubbed her bare back and shoulders vigorously with his hand a few times, and when she started getting a little warmer he stopped, keeping his arm around her to preserve the warmth. While he did this, Eri kept her head down and her eyes closed; she felt as if the warmth from his hand reached all the way into her heart, soothing as a balm. "Better now?" he asked her.

"Yes…thank you." Now that the tension was gone and she could think clearly again, Eri felt acutely how juvenile she'd been acting all this time. Throwing tantrums, losing her composure, misunderstanding him completely…she felt so ashamed of herself. "I've been such a child today, haven't I," she said bitterly. "I always act so mature and grown-up, but the minute something unsettling happens I get knocked off balance and turn into a total crybaby. I gave you such a hard time today, I even put you in danger…Really, I've no right to look down on others when I'm still deficient in so many ways…"

"Don't say that," she heard Harima's voice above her. "You did give me a hard time, but you had a harder time yourself. I can't imagine any girl going through all this and still keeping cool. I understand that you always want to be strong no matter what, but you don't have to be so hard on yourself."

"It's not about wanting to be strong," she protested. "…Well, maybe that too, but most of all I hate being a burden on others, you know? I want to be able to fend for myself in any situation…Well, I say that now, but I still ended up relying on you about everything today," she said with evident disappointment.

"What's wrong with relying on me?" he asked her in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "I was the one who told you to do that in the first place, right? And after everything we've been through, I think you should know by now that I don't expect you to be perfect or anything. Even the toughest person needs some support now and then; relying on me every once in a while doesn't make you needy or useless. What I'm trying to say is…" he said, staring intensely down at her, "…that it's okay to be weak…when you're with me."

"It's okay to be weak, huh," repeated Eri as if talking to herself. "I never thought I'd be okay with that…but coming from you…it doesn't sound so bad…" Truly, in any other situation she would have thought of such a notion as insulting to say the least, but when Hige said it, she knew it was his way of saying that she could count on him, that he would always be there to support her when she needed him. "Thank you…for saying that…I really appreciate it," she whispered almost inaudibly, and finally lifted her head to look at him. At that moment, even though she wasn't aware of it, all of her feelings for him shone clearly through her eyes. Her guard was completely down, and there was nothing to prevent her true emotions from reaching the surface.

Harima looked into her eyes, and his breath was caught in his throat. There it was – the greatest temptation of them all. So far he had managed to resist everything, even the touch of her naked body, but that look in her eyes…he had never seen anything like it, so unguarded…vulnerable…tender…He shut his eyes quickly, but it was no use; he was being irresistibly drawn towards her. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew there were plenty of good reasons not to take this any further, but for the life of him right now he could not remember any of them. Like a moth drawn by the light, almost unconsciously he leaned towards her in a manner that left no doubt about his intentions. _Ojou…I'm begging you here, stop me, because I sure as hell can't stop myself!_

Eri saw him leaning towards her, and her heart skipped a beat. _Is he going to…kiss me? No…this is wrong! We're not together, he hasn't even told me he loves me…I should stop him, I mustn't let him do this!_ But she already knew she was going to let him; she could no longer deny him a thing. Her first kiss, her virginity, anything – anything he wanted, it was his for the taking. And why not? Hadn't she decided he was the one for her a long time ago? Was it so wrong to give herself to the man she loved? And if it was such a mistake, why did the prospect of submitting to him…make her feel so insanely and uncontrollably excited?

In a last, desperate attempt to get ahold of himself, Harima opened his eyes again, hoping Ojou would hit him, yell at him, or at the very least glare at him and snap him back to reality. But alas…neither hit nor yell came, and she was definitely not glaring at him – no, she was _gazing_ at him, so sweet and defenseless…Worse than defenseless, actually, because he saw that her chest heaved and fell rapidly, her cheeks were flushed and her lips slightly parted, awaiting, wanting…He could see clear as day that she wasn't disgusted or angry or even afraid…She was aroused…excited!

_She wants it too. I'll be damned, she wants it too._ That single thought was enough to send his remaining reason flying out the window and his lust spiraling out of control. Slowly, he tightened his hold around her shoulders and raised his free hand, placing it against her cheek, and she lifted her face slightly, closing her eyes. _I can't believe it…she's letting me…I can kiss her, I can touch her, I can enjoy her to my heart's content…She's mine…all mine…_At that moment, he had completely forgotten that they were not supposed to be anything more than friends, that until recently he was in love with someone else…All he could see was a beautiful girl he wanted like crazy, and who wanted him too. And in his heated state of mind, claiming the sweet lips that drove him mad with desire seemed like the most logical thing in the world. He slid his hand from her cheek to her neck and pulled her towards him, closing in for the kiss…

But a split second before their lips touched, footsteps creaked on the floorboards of the big chamber in the front, followed an instant later by Yakumo's timid voice, "Hirayama-kun…are you sure it's safe to go in here? I thought I heard something like a scream coming from this place not long ago…"

Eri and Harima raised their heads in alarm and instinctively huddled closer – but this time it was out of fear, the mood was gone. From the front room echoed Hirayama-kun's low voice, "I heard it too, but it was probably just the wind. I don't think there's any danger, Tsukamoto-san; just watch your step, there seems to be a lot of rubble lying around. Are you cold? It is rather chilly in here," he asked with concern.

"I didn't get wet, so it's nothing I can't handle," Yakumo said calmly. "It was very fortunate you thought to bring a folding umbrella with you…"

"I had a feeling it would rain tonight," he said in his usual emotionless manner. "But it isn't very big and the storm seems to be getting worse, so I think it will be better if we wait here until the rain lets up at least."

"Do you think we should go any further in?" Yakumo asked. The pair in the back room nearly froze with horror upon hearing her words; if they were caught like this…! But to their immense relief, Hirayama-kun answered, "No, I don't think so; if nothing else, it could be dangerous. This place is falling apart; we might get injured. Besides, the flashlight has been acting a bit funny for a while now; I think it might have taken in water. I should take out the battery and wipe it while we wait. You had best stay put too, Tsukamoto-san; I wouldn't want you to trip over anything in the dark." Yakumo nodded obediently, and the two of them went and sat on a flat stone at the back of the room. Probably due to the acoustics of the old temple, Eri and Harima could hear their voices as clearly as if they were right next to them, even though they were in a different room altogether.

"Do you want to let them know we're here?" Harima whispered in Eri's ear as quietly as he could. "No way! I don't want to be seen like this!" she whispered back, shaking her head resolutely. He nodded in agreement; evidently, he didn't want that either. "Then we'll just have to keep quiet until they leave," he said in the same hushed voice. Eri nodded and nestled against him, with his arm still around her shoulders, and they stayed as immobile as possible so as not to make any noise that would attract unwanted attention.

For a long while, nothing much could be heard from the front room except for some random noises – probably Hirayama-kun's attempts to get the flashlight to function properly. Then they heard Yakumo's voice again, "It's really coming down, isn't it…I wonder if the storm will pass anytime soon. Sarah and the others will be worried about us…"

"They'll probably think we stopped for shelter, like we just did," Hirayama-kun said with his usual composure. "And I'm sure we won't have to wait long; summer storms are usually over quite soon." After a brief pause he asked her, "Is this the only thing worrying you, Tsukamoto-san?"

"Why would you ask that?" asked Yakumo, obviously taken aback. "I was just wondering whether you're afraid of thunderstorms as well," came Hirayama-kun's straight answer.

"'As well'?" Yakumo asked, puzzled. "As well as who?"

"Tsukamoto nee-sama is afraid of thunderstorms, so I thought it might be the same with you," he explained. Yakumo cast him a surprised look. "How did you know Nee-san is afraid of thunderstorms?" she asked curiously.

"I saw it," he answered simply. "Two days before I left for Japan, there was a really big thunderstorm going on in the area near the hospital. Tsukamoto nee-sama was terrified of it; she didn't want to admit it, of course, but I could tell. Especially when it got dark…she went and holed herself up in Ooji-san's room and made all sorts of excuses to stay there." After a brief pause he went on to say, "…When I returned the next morning to say my farewells to Ooji-san, she was still there. I don't think she went home that night at all."

Eri's chest tightened when she heard this, and she looked up sharply at Harima's stony expression; even if he had accepted Tenma's love for Karasuma-kun, she was positive he wasn't ready to hear about the two of them getting intimate. Fumbling in the dark, she put her hand on top of his and squeezed it, and he looked down at her as though he'd just woken up from a bad dream. He didn't say anything, just pulled her a little closer.

Yakumo, too, seemed kind of flustered to hear that rather unexpected information about her sister. "That's…Nee-san is an adult now, isn't she…" she said awkwardly; even though they could not see her, Eri and Harima could easily picture her blushing face. "What?" Hirayama-kun asked, a bit baffled, then understanding the meaning of Yakumo's words he said, "Oh – no, given Ooji-san's condition I seriously doubt anything of that sort happened. I think Tsukamoto nee-sama just needed his companionship to get her through the night. You should keep in mind that apart from him, she doesn't really have anyone close to her."

"I was under the impression that Nee-san had made some friends over there," Yakumo remarked. "Yes – Tsukamoto nee-sama is a very likeable person, and the people at the hospital are all very friendly with her," Hirayama-kun said. "But she hasn't really known them for long, so it's not the same as with you, her sister, or her high school friends. Right now, Ooji-san is the person closest to her, and she can't even speak with him properly. She never complained about it, but I'm sure there are times when she feels lonely and afraid. Being near him is probably her way of dealing with it."

Yakumo nodded. "I suppose it's to be expected that, for all her resilience, all this can be tough on Nee-san occasionally. Dealing with your fears…is never easy." A moment later she added, "There are even fears you might never be able to deal with." Although she was supposed to be talking about her sister, for some reason it sounded as if she was referring to herself.

Hirayama-kun stared at her for a few seconds with his usual unfathomable expression. "…No, I don't agree with that," he said slowly. "I believe that there is no fear that cannot be conquered, if only you find the right way to go about it."

Yakumo stared at him in turn. "What if there is no way?" she asked thoughtfully. "There is always a way," Hirayama-kun said with unusual persistence. "It might not always be obvious, but it exists, and it's up to you to figure it out. I'm not speaking theoretically here," he went on steadily. "I have personal experience of this."

"You mean, you had a fear you got over?" Yakumo asked and he nodded. "When I was little, I was terrified of thunderstorms too," he told her. "But as you can see, I'm perfectly fine with them now. Do you want to know why that is?"

Yakumo nodded eagerly; she, too, had quite a few fears of her own she had trouble dealing with. Her fear of men, her fear of loneliness, now that her sister was gone, her fear of never finding someone she could really connect with…Being afraid of thunderstorms was hardly the same, of course, but still she might learn something that could be of use to her as well.

"Because I was embarrassed, I did not want anybody to know about my fear of thunderstorms," Hirayama-kun went on. "But, as expected, Ooji-san found out at some point, and he taught me a trick to get over it."

"Would you mind…telling me about it?" Yakumo asked, obviously interested. "He told me that, every time there was a storm, I should close my eyes and imagine that the sounds of the storm were sounds from a big orchestra. You know, cellos, bass, drums, everything. And then I should try to figure out the melody of the storm."

"The melody of the storm…oh, I see," Yakumo said with unusual animation. "It's because you love music, right? Karasuma-san made you combine storms and music in your head, so that every time there was a storm you would be reminded of something you love and forget your fears. And did it work?"

"Yes, it did," he said. "It was difficult at first, but after a while, I was even inspired to write music pieces based on thunderstorms. I'm actually quite fond of them now," he said with a faint smile. "It was a very valuable lesson for me," he went on, growing serious once more. "I learnt that even something you fear can become something you love, if only you look at it differently."

Yakumo remained silent for a while, staring at him thoughtfully once again. 'If only you look at it differently'. Could it be the same with her fear of men? she wondered. Was there some way to see them differently, even when she was constantly harassed by their thoughts? She didn't really know, but…it wouldn't hurt to try and find out.

After several minutes of silence, Hirayama-kun spoke up again. "I think the storm's letting up," he said. Indeed, the rain had subsided and only a slight drizzle was falling. "The flashlight's back to normal, too, so we'd better head out now, before it starts raining again. Are you ready, Tsukamoto-san?" he asked.

"Yes, let's go," Yakumo said. Footsteps creaking on the floorboards sounded again, followed by silence.

As soon as their companions were gone, Eri and Harima shifted uneasily and looked away from one another, blushing vividly. After everything that happened – and everything that almost happened between them, they both felt more self-conscious than ever. In an attempt to divert her thoughts from those embarrassing topics, Eri said nervously, "W-well, it seems that Yakumo and Hirayama-kun get along well after all. I had no idea he was interested in music, did you?" "He said something about it yesterday," Harima said with equal nervousness, "and he's told me before that he plays the guitar, but that's it. Seems like Imouto-san has gotten to know him way better than the rest of us."

"Does that bother you?" Eri asked suddenly. "I mean…if those two were to get together…how would you feel about it?"

He thought for a minute. "If Imouto-san's happy, I have nothing to say about it," he said evenly. "But he'd better treat her right," he went on with an air of fierce protectiveness. "If any bastard makes her cry, I'm going to put him six feet under."

Eri said nothing for a few seconds, still looking away from him. A short while ago, she would have felt quite jealous if she heard him say this, but now she did not feel all that threatened; it was as if the status quo between them had somehow shifted. Well, a lot of things happened during this trip…but for now it might be for the best not to dwell on them. "So, should we get going too, now that the rain's stopped?" she asked timidly.

"…Yeah, I guess," he agreed. "The others will get worried if we're too late…especially when they see Imouto-san and Hirayama arrive before us."

They retreated to opposite corners of the room and hastily put their clothes back on, with their backs turned at each other. The clothes were still damp, but nothing could be done about that. Then they set off again, walking as swiftly as they could; the rain had stopped, but there was still a slight drizzle and it wasn't all that pleasant to be out in the open. They arrived at the inn only a few minutes after Yakumo's and Hirayama-kun's arrival, and were warmly welcomed by their worried friends.

"Oh thank goodness, you're finally here!" Mikoto cried out with relief, while Akira and the others handed them towels to wipe themselves off. "We were so worried that you had an accident or something during that storm! When Yakumo and Hirayama-kun told us that they hadn't seen you anywhere, I was scared out of my wits!"

"S-sorry, Mikoto," Eri said guiltily; she felt really bad for having to lie to her friend again, but what choice did she have? "We…accidentally strayed off the path during the rain, and it took us a while to find it again." She glanced at Harima and he nodded in confirmation – he, too, had no wish for the others to find out what had transpired in that temple. Accompanied by their friends, they retired to their room and went to sleep almost immediately.

The next day, during breakfast and on the way back, Akira was quietly observing them all the while; she was still anxious to find out whether they had made up or not. At some point during her observations, it struck her that the atmosphere between them was somehow different. They kept their distance from each other, but there was none of their usual bickering; it almost felt like they were afraid to look each other in the eyes. Still, it did not seem to her that there were bad feelings between them. More curious than ever, when the rest of the party had more or less fallen asleep on the train seats, she went to sit beside Eri, who was staring blankly out the window, lost in thought. "Eri," she said and her friend turned to look at her. "I was wondering…how are things between you and Harima now? Are you back to normal again…back to how you were before?"

Eri did not answer immediately, looking at her friend contemplatively. The way things were between her and Hige now…was there even a word capable of describing that? "…Yes, I think we're good," she said eventually in a low voice, and turned away towards the window again. _Good…but not like before,_ she thought to herself. _From now on…never like before._


	5. Chapter 5 Sports Festival

**Chapter 5 – Sports Festival**

…_The water in the bathtub is starting to get cold and he's just about to rinse himself off and get out, when a female silhouette appears behind the sliding door. "Imouto-san…is that you?" he asks tentatively._

_The door slides to the side and his astonished eyes fall on the tall, graceful figure stepping inside the bath, with nothing but a towel wrapped around her. Undeterred by his surprise she walks up to the edge of the bathtub looking down at him, her amber eyes glowing eerily._

"_Ojou, what are you doing here?" Her lips curl up in a slight smile and just like that she drops the towel, standing completely naked before him. "What does it look like? I'm taking a bath." She takes the wooden water pail and splashes it all over her, shiny droplets of water glistening on her pearly-white skin._

"_Then let me leave first." He stands up but before he has a chance to get out, she steps into the bathtub right in front of him. Standing close enough for the tips of her nipples to graze his skin, she whispers, "Are you sure you want to leave? I think at least a part of you would rather stay." And without warning she drops to her knees and swallows him whole._

_He shudders violently as he's suddenly engulfed in the tight, moist heat of her small mouth. Her tongue travels restlessly along his length, setting his body aflame. He tries to control himself but her sucking intensifies and he's ready to burst…only, he doesn't want it that way. There's something else he wants now and he's going to get it._

_He pushes her head back forcefully. "Stop it." "Why? Don't you like it?" she asks, and the tip of her tongue darts out to tease him once more. Her response riles him up even more; some nerve she's got, toying with him like that. Time to show her who's boss once and for all._

_He yanks her up by the armpits, spins her round and slams her against the wall, kissing her roughly. He shoves his tongue all the way down her throat, almost choking her. His toughened body, all solid muscle, presses crushingly against her, his hands grope indiscriminately every part of hers he can reach. His touch is not gentle; he can feel the tender flesh bruising under his fingers. But she does not complain; she revels in his ferocity, letting out small sounds of delight as she grinds against him passionately. "Take me, Hige…now…" she whispers in his ear, half commanding, half begging, and for once he's more than eager to grant her request. His hand slides between her legs, impatiently exploring her most hidden parts. Her sweet opening is pulsing and dripping wet and he can't wait anymore._

_He lifts one of her legs up, locking it around his waist, at the same time entering her in one go. Then he lifts her other leg as well, holding her up with his arms, her legs locked around him and her back leaning against the wall for support. He pulls her down on him and she gasps with pleasure as her body takes him in all the way to the hilt._

"…_You're so strong…" she says breathlessly, wrapping her arms around his neck, her fingers running through his wet hair. A dizzying sensation of dominance courses through him; yes, he's strong, he's powerful, that arrogant Ojou is at his mercy. He can do as he pleases with her, he can give her everything he's got and she can take it, hell, she wants it, she can't get enough of it…Thrusting wildly into her from below, he pulls her close and hungrily sucks and bites on her lovely white neck, then works his way down to her breasts, leaving his marks all over her delicate skin. Her moans become louder as he mercilessly attacks her most sensitive spots, and now she is trembling and tightening around him, he can feel she is nearing her peak, and all because of him…His arousal reaches new heights as he pushes her over the edge; her ecstatic cries echo in the small room, her quivering womanhood contracts intensely and her juices are gushing out, making her even more deliciously slippery. He can't hold out for much longer; after only a few more thrusts he finally completes her conquest, exploding deep inside of her and filling her with his essence to the brim…_

Harima woke up with a start, his entire body drenched in cold sweat.

It took him a few moments to realize he was in his room, lying on his futon, all alone. Figures – a dream. As if the real Ojou would ever seduce him like that if they ran into each other in the bath. More like she'd send him to the hospital with multiple bone fractures.

As he shifted to the side, trying to disentangle himself from the messy sheets, he also realized his underwear was soaked and sticky, and not just with sweat. Great, not just a dream – a wet dream. Again.

He flopped backwards on the futon and covered his face with his hands, sighing in frustration bordering on despair. What in God's name was wrong with him? Ever since he returned from that infernal beach trip he hadn't managed to get a decent night's sleep even once. Night after night he kept having dreams like this one. The place wasn't always the same; sometimes they were back in that temple, only in the dream no one came to interrupt them; sometimes they were in his house, her house, the school or even outside. But regardless of the setting, the same thing happened in every dream; Eri came and seduced him and he had sex with her. Steamy hot, dirty, passionate sex. And then he'd wake up in rumpled sheets and soiled underwear, his body temporarily sated but his mind raked with guilt.

At first he had been unsettled, of course, but had thought that he shouldn't read too much into it; this was probably because the memories from the trip were still fresh in his mind, and gradually as they faded away the dreams would stop as well. But neither the memories were forgotten nor did the dreams stop; if anything, they escalated with each passing night. And the worst of it was that he remembered them perfectly when he woke up, down to the last detail; he could almost smell Ojou's scent on his own skin, and if he closed his eyes he could envision her as vividly as if she were right next to him. Well, that last part wasn't so hard to explain; after all, he had seen practically all of her during the trip, and try as he might to forget what he had seen, his brain simply refused to delete that particular information.

Yes, those memories would not go away so easily, Harima realized that now. It was as if a fire had been ignited inside of him, a fire that could not be doused by any means he knew of. Not that he knew at all how to deal with this kind of thing; he had practically zero experience in these matters. When he was younger he hardly ever thought of women since all he cared about was fighting. After that, all he cared about was Tenma, but even with her…he had never dared to think beyond kissing her. He had placed her on such a high pedestal that it was impossible for him to imagine doing anything indecent with her; it felt like he was sullying her and he just couldn't do it. Well, one thing was for sure; his mind did not have the same inhibitions where Ojou was concerned. If she ever found out about half the things he'd done to her in those dreams she'd probably skin him alive, and that's if he was lucky.

And he deserved it, didn't he? He was supposed to be still in love with Tenma, what business did he have lusting after Ojou so shamefully, even if it was only in his dreams? He wasn't in love with her…at least he didn't think he was. Love was supposed to be paralyzing, weakening his resolve, making him hesitate to act and dread that the other party would think badly of him…This wasn't even remotely similar; a strong, intensely physical attraction that spurred him to forget everything and take what he wanted, lose himself in his own desires, an ardent craving, promising him untold pleasure with someone who yearned for him as much as he yearned for her…

For, in the end, that was what it was all about. It wasn't just her beauty; certainly, Ojou was an incredibly beautiful girl, he was aware of that for a long time now. Even considering he normally didn't go for the aristocratic type, he'd have to be blind not to acknowledge it. And yes, because of all those ill-timed coincidences on the trip, he had become very, very familiar with just about all of her bodily charms, and it had been almost enough to make him lose all control and give in to those unprecedented, primal urges without any reservations. Almost – but not quite. Faced with just that temptation, he had been able to more or less rein himself in; but his resistance had been swept away like leaves in the wind when he became aware of her attraction to him.

This realization had caught him completely off-guard. Until then, physical attraction never had any part in their relationship. When they first got to know each other, they were almost always at odds, and even though sometimes they did see eye to eye, most of the time he was positive that Ojou hated his guts; heck, he had heard her say so with his own ears, and more than once too. Needless to say, he as well had mostly harbored less than amicable feelings for her at the time; he respected her strong character and was grateful for the support she gave him at times, but she also got on his nerves more than anybody else. Nevertheless, after numerous weird situations and endless misunderstandings, miraculously they had managed to reach the point of friendship, and since the start of this school year he had even begun to be more susceptible, or should he say less immune, to her feminine side as well, but all the while he was sure it was just him. It had never occurred to him even for an instant that Ojou, too, might see him…well, as a man. Maybe it was because he was constantly reminded of the difference in their backgrounds, but he had always assumed that such a superior creature would never go for a lowlife like him. However, what he had seen in her eyes on the night of the courage test had shaken this belief of his to its very core.

There was definitely no mistake about it, nor could he put it down to his own wishful thinking like he had done with Tenma so many times before. He knew what he had seen, and besides it was so blatantly obvious, no matter how slow in the uptake he was in these matters there was no way he could have missed it. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wasn't the only one being attracted here, that she longed for him as well…and that feeling of being wanted, desired, was more intoxicating than anything he had ever felt so far. This was the first time his feelings were so much in sync with another person's, and even if it was just sexual attraction it was _mutual_, and that alone made it stronger than all of his one-sided feelings of the past. He was completely powerless against it, or rather he didn't even _want_ to fight against it. And neither did she, he was certain of it; he could have done with her anything he wished that night and she would have allowed, no, welcomed it. Knowing that, it was absolutely impossible to restrain himself; if Imouto-san and Hirayama hadn't shown up when they did he would definitely have kissed her – hell, who was he kidding? He would have _taken_ her, ravished her right there on the cold temple floor. And gotten them both into the biggest mess in history.

For now that he could think back with a clearer head he realized how ill-advised his actions were, even if they seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. He wasn't even halfway through sorting his feelings out yet; he still struggled with his lingering feelings for Tenma every day, not because he hoped for anything – he was fully aware it was a lost cause – but kind of like a lost limb, it would still hurt him even though it was no longer there. The pain had subsided a bit, but it still existed, and the fact that he was currently living in her house did not exactly help him forget. If there was one good thing about all those troublesome events of the trip and the disturbing emotions they had caused him, it was that they had gone a long way towards pushing his past sorrows away from his thoughts. He knew it wasn't very decent of him, but he had to admit that during this trip he had felt more alive and less dejected than he had in months now; especially during that last eventful day, he hadn't had the time to think about Tenma and feel down at all, something he had never hoped would happen so soon. And even now, thanks to those godforsaken dreams, he had far too many worries to occupy his mind with rather than dwell on the past. However, this was definitely not an appropriate way to forget. He wasn't about to stoop so low as to use Ojou as a means to distract himself when he wasn't even sure how he felt about her.

He didn't hate her, this much he knew for sure; but apart from that it was really hard to tell. Up till then he would have said with confidence that he thought of her as a friend, but were friends supposed to be physically attracted to each other? Could it be he was simply sexually frustrated and just happened to direct his urges towards her? He didn't think that was the case; there were quite a few very pretty girls around him at the moment, like Imouto-san, but no one except Ojou made him react this way. _ Why her? She's violent, and bossy, and irritating, and not at all cute. Although, sometimes…_Yes, sometimes when her guard was down and she dropped that proud, unyielding attitude of hers she was, perhaps, kind of endearing…But on the other hand, he didn't think it was love either; if anything, it was completely different from what he had known as love so far. Anyhow, until he could figure out what the hell was going on in his head, it would be a huge mistake to try and enter into a more intimate relationship with her; for one thing, it would be grossly unfair to her to do this with half-assed feelings. What if he had a change of heart later – wouldn't that end up hurting both of them? Besides, he wasn't even sure what Ojou wanted from him either. He sincerely believed she wanted him that night, but he could not disregard that she was especially fragile and vulnerable at the time. She had been through a whole lot that day, and her nerves were shaken; she might have responded to him while in that state, but would it be the same when she went back to normal again? It wouldn't be the first time he was mistaken in this matter; last year too he had thought she was in love with him, only to have her vehemently deny it. If he made the same mistake twice, boy would that be awkward. No matter how he looked at it, taking such a step now would be a very imprudent thing to do.

But if he hadn't been interrupted, he would hardly have a choice in the matter. As a man, he'd have to take responsibility for his actions; he couldn't very well deflower her and then say 'it was a mistake' or some other lame excuse of that sort, only the scum of the earth would do that, the lowest of the low. Even if she ever forgave him for it, which he seriously doubted, he would never be able to forgive himself. No, it was definitely a good thing for both of them that they had been stopped before something irreparable happened between them. He was keenly aware of that and yet…at times, when he was alone like this, he could not help imagining what it would be like if no one had come at that time, if he had been able to carry on like he wanted to. How he would kiss her, till she was dazed and gasping for breath; how he would feel her get all wet and excited under his touch; how she would moan his name, writhing with pleasure in his arms, as he drove her to mind-blowing ecstasy again and again…His breathing quickened and he unconsciously licked his lips, and then he realized with no little embarrassment that he was caressing himself over his boxers which had suddenly become very constricting. Exasperated at his own conduct, he told himself to get a grip and stop acting like a dirty-minded old geezer already, but as always his lower half stubbornly refused to listen to reason. Seeing no other way out of this, he decided to get it over with now in the privacy of his room rather than risk his little friend acting up later in the presence of his two female housemates. Since his underwear were already dirtied he didn't bother taking them off, just freed himself from their confines and started pumping at a fast pace.

At first he tried getting off without thinking about anything in particular, but it wasn't working. No surprises there; it was the same every single time these days, it never worked that way for him. He knew what he had to do to get his release, but as always he was reluctant to do it. Every time he tried to convince himself he didn't need it, and every time he failed; and now was no exception. Cursing his weakness, he closed his eyes and cast his mind back to that day again. His first taste of Ojou's body; the closeness with her in the sea, when they were swimming together; the sweet expression on her face as she anticipated his kiss at the temple…It didn't take him too long after that; it never did. Within minutes he was drowning in that immoral bliss body and soul; a wave of acute, almost painful pleasure crashing through him, and then a feeling of utter contentment in his mind as the warm liquid trickled through his fingers. _I know this is wrong, but damn it feels good…_

But as expected, remorse was quick to follow. _Again…I said I wouldn't, but I did it again…_The dreams he couldn't do anything about, but this was different; he was doing it consciously, willingly and even enjoying it…Really, his condition was getting worse and worse, and to think he had purposely avoided having any contact with Ojou after the trip, hoping that if he didn't see or hear her he would calm down eventually…As if. Instead of calming down, he grew more restless each day; during the daytime he managed to put it temporarily out of his mind between household chores and drawing his manga, but his nights were becoming so increasingly turbulent he was literally afraid to go to sleep. And in two days' time school would start again and then he'd have no way of avoiding her. He dreaded to think what would happen then; at times he was convinced she'd be able to tell he was having perverted dreams about her and even using her as masturbation material just by looking at his face. He knew he was being irrational, but there it was. But even if she didn't realize this secret of his, there was the undeniable fact that he had practically made a move on her that night, and he was not optimistic enough to believe she had overlooked or forgotten it. How did she feel about him now…did she hate him? want him? He had no idea, and he wasn't sure he wanted to find out either.

Worse than that, he had no clue how he should behave around her; being his normal self seemed next to impossible. How was he supposed to act like nothing had happened…and yet, what choice did he have? He certainly couldn't bring himself to talk about it with her, not to mention she probably wouldn't want that either. Every now and then he thought he should just ignore her, or run away altogether, but…he couldn't do that, not anymore. Last year he would have upped and left without a second thought, but now he couldn't bear to have her permanently removed from his life; her friendship had been essential in sustaining him throughout these months and without it he'd never be able to come this far, he was well aware of that. He was constantly getting proof of it; back at the temple, when he had heard something really painful she instantly realized it, but far from trying to gloss over it or showing any exaggerated compassion, with just a simple gesture she had managed to comfort him. She always did that; never throwing empty consolation words at him, never trying to forcefully cheer him up when he was down; just being there for him, giving him breathing space until he could get up on his own again. He needed that understanding and support, now more than ever; he just hoped she'd be still willing to give it to him.

Sighing deeply, he reached for his watch and looked at the time: 5.30 am. Quite early, but he might as well get up; if he fell asleep again who knew what he'd be dreaming about next. Besides, there was his dirty underwear and sheet to take care of; he couldn't possibly let the girls touch this kind of filth. Fortunately, ever since he came to this house it was an unwritten rule that he'd wash his own clothes himself. Imouto-san had been a bit puzzled when he had started washing his sheet every day along with his clothes, but he had told her he was sweating a lot due to the heat and thankfully she had taken him at his word. Still, there was always a chance she'd take his sheet to wash with the rest of the laundry, and he definitely couldn't have that. He got up and with swift moves undressed and put on clean clothes, then gathering up his dirty sheet and underwear he headed for the washroom, trying not to dwell on his troubles for the time being. _What will be, will be, I guess; I just hope it won't be a total disaster._

Meanwhile, in the first floor bedroom of a luxurious mansion across town, someone else was having sleep troubles as well. If somebody were to take a peek inside Eri's bedroom, at first glance she would appear asleep, lying on her side with closed eyes. But upon closer inspection, one would see that her face was scrunched up in an expression definitely not consistent with a sleeping person, and that the sheet around her hips was fluttering, as if something was moving underneath. Little by little the motion became more pronounced, and a few minutes afterwards her body arched and an almost inaudible whisper escaped her trembling lips, _"…Hige…"_

Opening her eyes, Eri withdrew her hand out of the sheets and quickly wiped it on a tissue she grabbed from her nightstand, all the while looking at it as though she wanted to chop it off or something. She was so angry at herself; she would never have believed she'd ever be reduced to such a state before that trip, yet here she was…doing something so indecent again, even though she had sworn over and over that she would restrain herself…But it was no use; unless she did that, she just couldn't go to sleep, and even those few times when she dropped off after hours of tossing and turning she would soon wake up again. To get a few hours of sleep at night and a little peace of mind during the day…there was no other way except this, but she was so terribly ashamed of it…_Truly, pride goes before a fall,_ she thought bitterly. _I used to look down on all those silly lovestruck girls, thinking I'd never act like this for a guy, and now I've become worse than any of them._

Yes, Eri had to admit she could not possibly sink any lower than this. She still found it hard to accept that her feelings for Hige had become so devastatingly intense, so…overwhelming in such a short time. Then again, she ought to have expected she would wind up falling so hard for him. Since last year already, there were plenty of warning signs. Like, for instance, how she had gotten so insanely angry with Tenma when she had realized Hige was in love with her. Insanely and unjustly, she might add, because it certainly was no fault of Tenma's that he had fallen in love with her, nor had she ever encouraged him, at least not deliberately. In all probability she had never even realized his feelings, since in her eyes there was no man other than Karasuma-kun anyway. Eri knew all this perfectly well and still had been so furious at her friend…why? And for that matter, why was she so competitive with Yakumo every time she saw her hang around him? Come to think of it, even though she denied having any feelings for Hige so persistently at the time, she undoubtedly had an unreasonable desire to monopolize him, in spite of having no such rights. That alone was a dead give-away that she loved him, but her pride prevented her from admitting it. Maybe it was also because his attitude wasn't all that encouraging; at times they got along, but he had never given her any of those flattering attentions she got from other guys, and somehow she felt she'd be bound for disappointment if she allowed herself to fall in love with him for real, especially when she found out he was in love with someone else. That was one of the reasons she had decided to quit school and move back to England at the end of last year; she wanted to distance herself from him while she still could without hurting herself too much. But then he went out of his way to keep her here and even agreed to become her fiancé…and she just couldn't help getting her hopes up a bit. But until now she had never dared to hope she actually stood a chance with him, nor had she expected that having such a hope would make that much of a difference.

It was almost inconceivable to her that this trip which had started on such a bad note would bring about such radical changes. The fact alone that Hige had shown attraction towards her was in itself nothing short of a miracle; granted, the circumstances were kind of extreme, but they had been through extreme circumstances in the past as well and he had never reacted like this. There was no room for misunderstanding this time either; she was positive that it was her he wanted, no one but her. And just this realization had been enough – more than enough – to crumble all her defenses to the ground. Her pride, modesty, morals, everything had been incinerated by the fiery passion he had sparked inside her heart, just by letting her see he wasn't immune to her. If she had a chance…even the slightest chance to be with him, then nothing besides that mattered. It was terrifying, and it was the truth; he could make her do anything, give anything with just one look from those blazing black eyes of his. If he wanted her, nothing could make her push him away, not even for form's sake. Back at the temple, it was made abundantly clear to her; even though neither the time nor the place was appropriate, even though they weren't nearly in a relationship that justified doing these sorts of things, despite all that she was still willing, no, _eager_ to offer her everything to him, just because he wanted it. Just for that, she would have let him have his way with her, yes, and loved every minute of it too. Even now, to her everlasting shame, she could not help feeling occasional pangs of regret that Yakumo and Hirayama-kun had stopped them short, even though logic dictated it was very, very fortunate that they had done so.

For if they hadn't come, and things had gone completely out of control between her and Hige, it would have been nothing short of a disaster in the end. Much as she wished for it, Eri wasn't naïve enough to believe Hige had fallen in love with her out of the blue like that. Being attracted to her was a good thing, but it wasn't the same as being in love with her. And she had to keep in mind that, because of all those embarrassing situations, throughout that day he had seen her naked and touched her body so many times; and he was only human after all. Caught up in the heat of the moment he had made an advance towards her; it was understandable, most men in his position would've probably done the same and more, but Eri didn't think that qualified as love. Besides, it wasn't like he would've gotten over his feelings for Tenma just because of a one-night stand with her. So, where would that leave them? Knowing him, there was a good chance he'd feel obligated to date her, but could she even accept that, when he was still in love with another person? Hell no, she most emphatically did not want that. She was still Sawachika Eri and she had her dignity, no way was she going to settle for another's sloppy seconds. The man by her side would love her and nobody else; it was either that or nothing at all. But they would not have been able to remain friends either, not with such an incident between them. And if they could be neither lovers nor friends…there would be nothing left to connect them, and the relationship they had managed to build so far would have been destroyed for good.

Eri swallowed hard as she thought of that possibility; the mere thought of them becoming complete strangers made her heart ache. She could endure him not being in love with her, but not being able to at least talk to him, or even fight with him like before…that was too much to bear. And it wasn't like there wasn't any danger of that very thing happening, just because they hadn't crossed the line back then. What had transpired between them was already plenty awkward, and frankly she was at a loss what would it be like when they met again. For now she just stayed away from him and tried to occupy herself so that she wouldn't think about it. She studied, went out on social calls (ones that did not require bringing her fiancé along), met with her friends whenever they were available, she even dug out some dusty volumes of ancient Japanese literature from her parents' library and set out to improve her Japanese. But no matter how busy she was during the day, eventually night would come and her thoughts would return to him, and her desire for him would come back to torment her, making her resort to those shameful actions in order to finally fall asleep. But the worst was that with each passing day the time to go back to school was drawing nearer, and so was the time to confront him.

If only she could at least decide how to treat him when she saw him again…Acting like nothing was wrong would be quite impossible, she was certain of it, but what could she say to him? It wouldn't be exactly fair to him if she kicked up a fuss about it; she, too, was partly responsible for what had happened, and it would be really hypocritical on her part if she just shoved the entire blame on him. Besides, Eri didn't want the others in school to find out about this; the very last thing they needed right now was weird rumors about the two of them spreading all over the school. Fortunately her friends hadn't asked anything about the time she had spent alone with Hige, because she probably wouldn't have been able to lie to them, and for now she didn't want even them to know, not until she found a way to resolve this mess. She knew she could trust them to keep it a secret and it was tough having no one to confide in, but there were so many things they could misunderstand about this whole affair, and she didn't want them to get the wrong idea. But most of all she did not want _him_ to get the wrong idea. She wanted to make him understand that she did not resent or blame him for this, and that she had no desire to force him into anything he wasn't ready for. No matter how much she loved him, she would never try to impose her feelings on him, but how was she supposed to tell him all that, when she was sure she'd die of embarrassment the minute she set eyes on him? Just being in the same classroom would be uncomfortable to the point of suffocating, and she was positive he'd feel about the same; she only hoped he hadn't completely freaked out and run off again. If he had…then it would probably be the end for them, she supposed, but if he was still here, then that would mean he, too, wished to at least preserve the relationship they had until then. She wasn't sure if they could even manage to do that, but she definitely wanted to try.

With a weary sigh she closed her eyes and told herself to quiet down and get some rest. No matter how much she beat herself up over this she wasn't getting anywhere, that much was obvious, so she might as well leave it alone for now. Only two days until school started again; one way or another she'd have to make an effort to sort out this situation with him. She was very much afraid it would prove to be too much for her, but even so, she did not want to go down without a fight.

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It goes without saying that with all those doubts, worries and guilt between the two of them, when Eri and Harima met again it was a catastrophe waiting to happen. Forget talking normally, even looking at each other in the eyes seemed like an insurmountable task. And quite predictably, both of them had decided that the best way to deal with their discomfort would be to avoid each other like the plague – only it wasn't all that easy to avoid each other when their desks were side by side. Mikoto and Akira, as well as the rest of the class, soon became aware that something was decidedly wrong between them. Before, they would constantly quarrel and exchange barbed remarks, but it didn't feel like they disliked each other as much as they let on; now, however, it almost felt like they couldn't stand being around each other. They barely exchanged a 'good morning' and even that sounded forced; and although neither of them seemed to be holding a grudge about anything in particular, they had never been this unsociable to one another, not even during their worst fights. But equally predictably, far from solving anything between them, this attitude only made matters worse.

Instead of abating, their internal turmoil grew stronger every day, all the more now that they spent so many hours sitting next to each other. Both of them were embarrassed and fearful that their hidden desires would be uncovered, and consequently all they could think about was those very desires which seemed to only get worse with each passing day, as if fueled by their own shame. But even though they did not make any attempt to communicate, they still watched each other out of the corner of their eyes, and of course they completely mistook each other's awkwardness for cold-shouldering, not thinking for one second that there might be other reasons behind it. Then anger started coming into play as well: _Why that dense, thick-skulled caveman, how dare he stir me up like this and then pretend I'm invisible! _fumed Eri, while on the other hand, _God damn that girl…first she turns me into a complete pervert, and now she won't even look at me?_ Harima thought angrily. Day by day their mood deteriorated to an impossible degree; and the dark aura emanating from their two seats was so ominous that practically everyone in class shied away from them.

"Seriously, what is wrong with those two?" asked Mikoto worriedly, fiddling through the contents of her bento box with her chopsticks. It was one of those rare occasions when she and Akira were having lunch alone because Eri was on day duty. "I'm telling you, Akira, this keeps getting worse and worse. I've never seen Eri this frustrated before, and Harima looks like he's going to go on a killing rampage one of these days. And yet they're not fighting at all, they hardly even talk to each other. You know, whatever their problem is, I'm actually starting to wish they would fight over it and get it out of their systems."

"That might be a solution," Akira said with equal concern, "but it's not like we can force them to fight if they don't feel like it. If only we could figure out just what caused them to become like this, we might be able to help them in sorting it out."

"Whatever it was, it must have happened during the trip," said Mikoto. "As far as I know, they didn't meet at all after that time, right? But what could it be? They had that misunderstanding on the first day, but on the second day they seemed to be getting along well…" She paused and considered for a moment. "Unless…they got along too well…you don't think they could possibly have…" Her voice trailed off, but the meaning behind her words was only too clear.

But Akira shook her head. "I thought of that too, but considering the circumstances, where could such a thing have happened? Inside the sea, or in the forest under the rain? And besides, do you really think Eri could keep something so important a secret from us?"

"No…I guess you're right, this can't be it," Mikoto agreed. "But whatever it is, I fear it's becoming a major problem. At this rate, if they don't make up any time soon they'll become completely estranged."

"The thing is, it's not our place to interfere in this matter," Akira said. "It is something between the two of them, and they ought to resolve it among themselves. The reason they're in this mess right now is that they're running away from it, instead of sitting down and talking about it properly."

"Yeah, but do you really think there's any chance of them doing that on their own?" Mikoto asked pessimistically. "Frankly, no, I don't," Akira admitted. "But maybe if they were thrown together in a situation where they wouldn't be able to avoid each other, then perhaps…"

"You mean, like locking them up in a storage room for the night or something?" asked Mikoto half-jokingly. "Something along these lines, yes," replied Akira in a completely serious manner. "If I know them at all, when forced to confront each other they'll find a way to reconcile – unless they kill each other first, that is."

"Yeah, with them that's a definite possibility too," Mikoto said grumpily. "Well, for now I think we should wait and see if anything changes during the sports festival. With all the competition and the festivities they may manage to get it off their minds and loosen up a bit."

"The sports festival…that's right, it starts in a few days, doesn't it…" Akira said, looking like she had just thought of something. "Last year, they got pretty close during it…who knows, maybe this year as well…"

"The events are the same as last year?" Mikoto asked. "Not all of them…for instance, the third-years don't have a horse-riding battle. And I heard some talk about new events this year…I believe I should look more into it."

"Do you have something in mind?" Mikoto asked again; she knew her friend too well not to realize she had come up with a plan. "Nothing concrete just yet," replied Akira cryptically. "It will all depend on information received." Her enigmatic reply piqued Mikoto's curiosity even more and she wanted to discuss this further, but just then Eri returned to class and the subject was immediately dropped.

Two days later, class 3-C was holding a meeting during homeroom to decide which boys and girls would participate in the sports festival events. For the third-years there were mostly speed races: among others there were 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, scavenger race and relay race, as well as the tug-of-war. Since they were both fast runners, Eri and Harima were among the first who were nominated for participation; it was decided that Eri would run in the 100m, the 200m and the women's relay race, while Harima too, despite his reluctance, was forced to participate in the 400m and the men's relay race. And of course, they would both participate in the tug-of-war.

"Now then, let's move on to the last event," said Ootsuka Mai, who had succeeded Hanai as class rep this year as a matter of course. The class exchanged puzzled looks; most of them were under the impression that there were no more events to decide on. "The student council decided to include a new event exclusively for third-years starting this year," Mai went on to explain. "It's called 'couple's three-legged race'."

A buzz erupted among the class upon hearing those words. "Couple's three-legged race? What is that?" was heard from several directions.

"Just like the name says, it's a 400m three-legged race and the participants have to be a boy and a girl," Mai said crisply. "Well then, are there any volunteers for this event?"

This was followed by an even greater buzz; but in the end, nobody spoke up to volunteer. Most of the boys were more than willing to participate in a three-legged race with a girl – it would be the kind of contact they could normally only dream of – but they were afraid they'd be called perverts if they voiced their wishes. Imadori tried to make a joke out of it, "I wouldn't mind running if it's with you, Miko-chin!" but a cruel rebuff from Mikoto, "I wouldn't be caught dead tied up with you!" coupled with a stranglehold from Lala quickly served to put him in his place. After this no other boy dared to volunteer, while the girls were even less inclined to participate.

"No one?" asked Mai after tapping the desk with her pen several times to quiet the students down. "In that case, I'll have to nominate someone myself…" She cast a look around the classroom, then turned towards the blackboard where the names of the participants in the various events were written. After deliberating for a bit, she turned towards her classmates again. "In my opinion, the best candidates for this event are Harima-kun and Sawachika-san."

"NO!" Both Eri and Harima sprang up from their chairs simultaneously in protest. "Why the hell does it have to be us?" shouted Harima, glowering at the class rep. "Aren't there any others in this class?" Unfortunately, she didn't seem intimidated in the slightest, and for once Harima dearly regretted that his classmates weren't afraid of him anymore. "That's right!" cried Eri as well, agreeing with him on something for the first time in a long while. "You can't just say we're the best candidates for this without any reason!"

"You are both fast runners, you are evenly matched in size and since you are engaged you should have no problem being in close contact," Mai replied without losing her cool. "Aren't those reasons enough?"

_Oh darn it, why does Ootsuka-san have to be so logical?_ thought Eri desperately. "B-but, but…!" she countered again, determined not to let this slide so easily. "What about Umezou-kun and Kido-san? They're both in the track club and they're a couple too, so they're just as suitable, aren't they?"

"Umezou-kun and Kido-san are both participating in four races each already," replied Mai severely. "You and Harima-kun have a lighter program, therefore it's only fair to take this race upon yourselves. But I will bring this suggestion up for voting as well. Let's see then, who is in favor of…"

And as expected, it was decided by the vast majority that the runners for the couple's three-legged race would be Eri and Harima. The word 'doom' wasn't nearly enough to describe the feelings of the unwilling couple, especially when it was announced that homeroom hours from the next day on would be dedicated to training for the sports festival. And since neither of them needed much training for their individual races and in a three-legged race the most important thing wasn't speed but coordination, it was an easy guess what they would be mostly training for.

"It was your doing, wasn't it?" Mikoto asked Akira the next day as soon as she got a moment alone with her. "Don't tell me you had a new event introduced in the sports festival just for this?"

"Oh come on, Mikoto, I could never do something like that," Akira said with a saintly look. "The event had been already decided by the student council. But…Ootsuka-san seemed to be having trouble picking someone suitable for this event, and I may have given her a bit of advice, that's all."

"I see…so, do you think it'll work?" Mikoto asked again. "Personally, I'm not even sure they're going to put in an effort…they seemed very reluctant to participate in the first place."

"Oh, now that it's been decided they'll put in an effort all right," Akira said with confidence. "Both of them hate losing, remember? And unless they take this seriously they're going to lose, because they're going to have some pretty tough competition."

"You mean from your class? Who is participating from 3-D?"

"Harry, along with Tamura Momoka," replied Akira. "She's the fastest runner in 3-D, I believe. Kido-san will probably know her from the track club."

"Oh, that is tough competition," admitted Mikoto. "Well then, we can only hope something good comes out of this…"

But from the looks of it, their hopes were not to be answered. The training sessions were a total disaster. In their individual races and the relay races Eri and Harima performed outstandingly, but in the three-legged race…Since they had to tie one of their legs together and hold on to each other's waist, this was the closest contact they had since the beach trip. It was inevitable that their minds would wander and their feelings would take over…or that their bodies would react. Every now and then Harima would be reminded of those dreams that still kept him awake half the night, then he would get angry at himself for getting so inappropriately excited, then he would get angry at Eri for making him get excited, and then he would fantasize about punishing her in some very x-rated ways…It drove him nuts. It was the same with Eri; arousal, denial and anger were running rampant in her head, completely ruining her concentration. Needless to say, coordinating their movements while in that state of mind was quite impossible. Either the one or the other would misstep or trip, making both of them fall in a heap on the racetrack, under the astonished stares of their classmates who could not understand how come these two had become so clumsy all of a sudden. They did try to blame each other for it but they weren't very convincing, since deep down each of them believed it was their own fault. Anyway, after that abysmal performance, they were soon ordered to drop everything else and focus solely on training for the three-legged race. They had no choice but to agree; it was quite obvious to them that if they did not improve soon they would certainly lose, especially when they caught sight of class 3-D's training and saw Harry and Tamura Momoka sprinting together in perfect synchronism. Faced with the prospect of not only losing but making a fool of themselves in front of the whole school, Eri and Harima decided to swallow their personal issues and make a serious effort in training.

Unfortunately, that determination alone was not enough. Their problems were still there, and their coordination suffered accordingly. The eve of the sports festival arrived, and they had yet to complete a full race without tripping or falling down. Disheartened by their lack of improvement, they decided to stay behind after homeroom for some last-minute training. Neither of them liked the idea of being alone together – ever since the beach trip it had never been just the two of them even once – but more than that they hated the idea of losing.

After yet another long streak of falls, they stopped for a while to catch their breath. They were quite alone at the time; at first there were a few other boys and girls finishing up with their training, but after a while everybody left except for them. They were still feeling awkward and didn't know how to act around each other, so they just paced about nervously, avoiding each other's eyes. Both of them were out of breath and their legs were shaking with exhaustion; and there was a scrape on Eri's knee from their last fall.

"That looks painful," Harima said nervously, pointing at the scrape. "Shouldn't you go to the infirmary and get it looked at?"

Eri looked down at her knee. "It's no big deal," she said, shrugging her shoulders, then looked up again. For a second their eyes met, but they quickly turned away again. Harima leaned against the wire fence surrounding the racetrack and looked up towards the sky; the sun was beginning to set, soon it would get dark and they'd have to call it a day. "…This isn't going well at all, is it," he said, as if talking to himself.

"You think?" asked Eri sarcastically. "At this rate, we'll be the laughing-stock of the entire school this time tomorrow!" Letting out a sigh of frustration, she leaned against the fence too and pushed her bangs away from her eyes irritably. "This is so not like us," she complained aloud. "I mean, we never got along famously, but we could at least work together when we had to…now, we can't even do that."

"…Yeah, tell me about it." He cast a look down at her bent head. It was true; their past selves would have been able to overlook their disagreements and focus on the task at hand, but this was different – or, to be more precise, _they_ were different. Perhaps it would've been easier for both of them if they could just go back to being Hige and Ojou and fight like they used to, but it was clear to him now that they could no longer revert to that. And if they could not go back…their only other option was to keep moving forward, even if they had no idea where would 'forward' lead to.

Did she see that as well, and if she did, would she ever admit it? he wondered. Well, only one way to find out, and it was going to be hard as hell. Taking a deep breath he said slowly, hoping he wasn't making things worse, "Look…I can see this whole race thing is really unpleasant for you…"

"Unpleasant is not the right word," he heard her say in response. "More like…uncomfortable, I'd say." She lifted her head and looked up at him without avoiding his eyes for the first time since school started. "It's the same for you, isn't it?"

"…Yeah." He saw no reason to try and deny it; he wasn't going to fool anyone either way, so he might as well be honest about it. If nothing else, they could still be honest with each other despite their discomfort; that was something, wasn't it? But they had barely scratched the surface as yet; just how much honesty they could take remained to be seen. After a brief pause he said, "…It's…kind of too intimate for comfort…or something, right?"

Eri nodded. As awkward as it was to talk about this kind of thing, she did feel sort of relieved to be able to say what she felt out loud; and also to know that she wasn't the only one feeling uncomfortable. Maybe this was the time to be less proud and more sincere, she thought. Hige seemed to want to sort this out as well, although it was obviously difficult for him to talk about it; at the very least she ought to cooperate with him a bit. "Yes…I suppose so…I mean…all this closeness…and t-touching…" Her voice broke off – it really was so hard to talk about these things!

"Does it bother you that much to be touched by me?" Harima asked suddenly without thinking. He instantly regretted it – _Shit, what the hell did I just say?_ he thought, panicking, but it was no use, the words were already out. Eri's eyes widened and she blushed vividly, shaken by this unexpected question. _How am I supposed to answer that? Of course it doesn't bother me; I love it! But how can I tell him that so that he won't misunderstand?_ Trembling slightly, she replied in a small voice, "I-It's not that it b-bothers me…it…it just f-feels kind of weird…" Towards the end, her voice was so low that Harima had a hard time hearing her. _I can't believe I just said that…_

"…Yeah, same here." He was quite surprised to get such an earnest answer to his question; he was expecting something more along the lines of 'Some nerve you've got asking me that, idiot!' But more than that, he was surprised to find out that Ojou, too, was deeply affected by what had happened between them, and not in a negative way. She didn't seem to hate him for what he had done; if she was repulsed by him, she would have said outright that she detested his touch, wouldn't she? But if she didn't hate him, why did she avoid him all these days? Could it be that she was feeling awkward like he was? He hadn't considered that possibility until now, because he couldn't see any reason for her to feel embarrassed – unlike him, she hadn't done anything to be ashamed of. But then again girls could be unexpectedly sensitive about the strangest things…Funny, he had never thought of Ojou as sensitive before, but right now she was kind of like on that fateful day: unsure of herself, nervous…and conscious of him? Only now…there weren't any extreme circumstances to throw her off balance. It was his presence and his presence alone that made her react this way.

But then that would mean…that her response to him back then wasn't a one-time thing. She was still aware of him, probably even still attracted to him, just like he was. And maybe afraid of those feelings too, just like he was. If that were the case, it would be wrong of him to keep being mad at her; but on the other hand, what could he say to her? He had no idea what to do with this newfound knowledge, and from the looks of it, she was equally at a loss how to act around him.

Meanwhile Eri watched him as well, anxious to see how he took her words. He did not seem angry or disgusted, but he did admit he was feeling weird about it too…Was that good or bad? Probably good, she thought; at least it meant that something had changed in the way he saw her. Last year they were alone together numerous times but he had never lost his composure like this. And now she wasn't naked or anything; if he was still attracted to her, that ought to count for something, right? However, she was still far from convinced he had fallen for her. But he did not appear to hate her, and if they did not hate each other then they should be able to repair their relationship, provided they could find a way to get past their discomfort.

In an attempt to make an effort towards that she said to him, "Hige…last year when we got engaged…you said we're friends, right?"

"Yes." He looked down at her intensely, wondering what she was getting at. Turning around to face him, she went on, "W-well, I've been thinking that…maybe…as friends, we shouldn't be so wary of each other. If – if we can't talk normally or if we freak out every time we happen to touch…then we'd be no different than strangers."

"I don't want that." Harima spoke without thinking again, but this time he did not regret what he said; this was how he truly felt. Emboldened by his words, Eri carried on, "Then…how about we agree that, as long as we're friends, it's no big deal if we happen to touch each other. I – I mean within reason, of course," she hastened to add, gesturing frantically. "If you ever grab anywhere you're not supposed to, I'll still kick your butt to next year!"

"Fair enough," he said slowly, looking at her with a thoughtful expression. So…basically Ojou was saying that for the time being, she wanted to remain his friend; she even seemed willing to overlook what had happened between them on the trip. More than that, she was saying that she would not misunderstand his intentions if he were to touch her again unless he behaved downright indecent. Well, if she was willing to go that far, the least he could do was keep himself under control and never do anything to make her feel uncomfortable in his company. But was she really capable of displaying such tolerance? he wondered. It would be better to find out now, instead of having more misunderstandings cropping up between them later. "Then…something like this would be all right with you?" he asked tentatively, placing his hands on her shoulders.

Eri shivered a little, but she did not avert her eyes from him. "Y-yes," she replied with a faint tremor in her voice. "You're not afraid? Even after…everything that happened?" he asked again with no little trepidation. This was the first time either of them alluded to that trip, and he had no clue how would she react to that memory.

"I'm not afraid _because_ of everything that happened," Eri said, her voice now completely steady. "Because now I know that you'll never do anything I wouldn't want you to." It was true; she was fully aware that, for all her embarrassment, she had never been averse to anything he had done to her and he had never once forced her into anything she didn't want. And he deserved to know that, even if it was difficult for her to admit it. If she really loved him, she shouldn't let her pride take precedence over him.

Harima looked at her honest, steady gaze and felt something snap inside him. "Oh, come here, damn it," he muttered impulsively and abruptly pulled her into a tight, tender hug. Eri froze for a second as she felt his arms wrapping around her, but she did not push him away; pushing him away was not an option for her anymore. After a moment's hesitation she wrapped her own arms around his waist and rested her cheek on his chest, blushing deeply. She was shocked and a little scared of whatever was developing between them right now, but more than anything she was feeling deliriously happy.

Harima was seriously afraid that he'd get excited again with her so close, but to his surprise he didn't feel that way at all; instead, he was met with a strangely calming sensation. It was just a hug, a totally innocent hug and yet it was more fulfilling and satisfying than any of the dreams or fantasies he had so far. Only now did he realize how lonely and hurt he was feeling all these days when he was trying to avoid her, and he never wanted to feel that way again. As for his desires…they hadn't gone away, but now that he knew how much she accepted and trusted him, keeping them in check seemed almost ridiculously easy. In his mind now there was nothing more important than honoring the trust she placed in him; he was determined never to disappoint her in that regard no matter what. _Never again,_ he thought, squeezing her a little tighter. _I know I've no right to ask this of you, Ojou, but don't ever leave me alone again._

Eri closed her eyes, feeling as though in a dream she never wanted to wake up from. The sheer delight of having those warm, strong arms wrapped around her, of inhaling his musky scent…she felt so happy she could die. But most importantly she was thrilled to know that he valued their relationship so much and was so keen on preserving it; this was more than she had ever hoped for. After seeing this, how could she not try her very best to make things work between them? _Ah, it's no use, _she thought to herself, pressing her cheek against his T-shirt. _I really do love that idiot, so I'm going to wait for him until he's ready to love me back. Tenma is doing the exact same thing with Karasuma-kun right now, isn't she? Surely…surely I can do as much as her._

"…Say…is it okay if we stay like this for a little longer?" she heard him ask in a low voice. Somehow she got the feeling he wasn't referring just to the hug, but to their relationship as a whole. Maybe this was his way of asking her to give him time, even if he didn't realize it. "Yes…that's fine by me," she whispered, holding on to him affectionately. If it was time he wanted, she'd give him as much as he wished for.

They stayed like this for a while without saying anything further, simply enjoying this intimacy they were sharing for the first time. Neither of them wanted to let go, but there was one more task they had to do before the day was over. "…Alright, let's give this thing one last try, okay?" Harima said eventually, looking optimistic about it for the first time. Eri nodded eagerly and they went to tie their legs again for one final race.

This time it went perfectly, no mistakes, no tripping, nothing. The two of them ran as one, and completed the race in excellent time. "We did it!" cried out Eri excitedly. "See, we can do it if we try!"

"Damn right we can," Harima said with equal enthusiasm. "Let's kick some serious ass at that festival tomorrow, okay?" His heart was so light at that moment, he felt like he could do anything; and in his eyes the old fire glowed once again.

Eri looked into his eyes and smiled happily; seeing him passionate and motivated again gave her all the energy boost she needed. "Yeah," she said, "let's do that." When they left school shortly afterwards, both of them knew that this night they were going to sleep deeply and well.

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While Eri and Harima were striving to patch up their relationship, Yakumo was struggling with her own problems. Who would have thought that she'd be in such a tight spot right now because of the sports festival when just a few short days ago everything was perfectly fine.

Being quite good in sports as she was, Yakumo pretty much expected to be selected to represent her class in quite a few events. However, seeing as the speed races did not involve much contact with boys, this was of little consequence to her. She was a little concerned about the horse-riding battle though, and more specifically about the boys who would be carrying her and their thoughts – but in the end it all turned out well. With a little gentle persuasion from Sarah, it was decided that her front horseman would be Hirayama-kun, whom she was by now quite comfortable with. As for the back ones, they were Kitagawa Kazuki and Sotomura Hikaru, two rather quiet, herbivore guys who occasionally hung out with Hirayama-kun on lunch breaks. Their greatest attribute in Yakumo's eyes was that both of them had girlfriends at the moment, which meant the thoughts she sensed from them were few and far between – and quite innocent. And so all was going well until two days before the festival, when a string of ill-timed words and unfortunate coincidences landed her into this mess.

It all started with a conversation among her friends during lunch break. Miki was telling them about an episode from her favorite drama, where the heroine – also a high school girl – was divided between two guys who were fighting over her. In the episode she was telling them about there was also a sports festival, and apparently the heroine had agreed to go on a date with whichever of the two rivals managed to snatch her headband. And then Miki had said, laughing, "Just imagine, choosing the one who snatched your headband to go out with! Isn't that very dramatic, Yakumo-san?" Unfortunately, some second-year boys from another class happened to pass by when she said those words, and since they hadn't heard the entire conversation, they stupidly got the impression that Yakumo would choose her boyfriend from the team who snatched her headband in the horse-riding battle. The news spread among the other classes like wildfire; and the next day when Yakumo came to school, she was shocked to discover that practically all male second-years outside her class shared the exact same thought: _I want to snatch Tsukamoto-san's headband!_

Quite understandably, this caused Yakumo a lot of dismay. If every team outside her class was going to go for her headband it could be really dangerous, both for her and for her male teammates. Kitagawa-kun and Sotomura-kun weren't nearly strong or intimidating enough to deter the other teams. Hirayama-kun was well-trained in martial arts, but that would do him little good in battle formation, and his presence wasn't exactly scary either. Even with the other teams from her class shielding them, they wouldn't have much of a chance against an assault from all the rest of the teams together. But rather than the danger to her person, Yakumo was more worried of what might happen to her teammates as well as her friends and classmates, who would definitely try to protect her from harm. She considered the possibility of feigning illness to avoid participating, or falling on purpose right after the start, but that would mean her class would lose points, and she didn't want to disappoint her classmates like that. After worrying over this for the entire day, on the way home from school she finally opened her heart to Sarah, hoping that she might come up with a solution for this unprecedented problem.

"A-are you serious?" her friend stammered in disbelief after hearing what she had to say. "B-but why? I know you're very popular, Yakumo, but why would all the boys in our year suddenly want to get ahold of your headband so much?"

"I've no idea," Yakumo said, shaking her head in frustration. "But that's what every single one of them is thinking, Sarah. You've got to believe me."

"Oh, I believe you, all right," Sarah assured her. "I know you'd never lie about something like this. Anyway, the important thing right now is finding a way to keep you safe from these boys' stupidity."

"It wouldn't matter so much if it was just me; with my ability I could easily evade any attack," Yakumo said with concern. "But I can't make use of it in battle formation…and if the rest of the class has to shield me all the time, we won't get any points in this event. If only there was some way to scare them off…"

"Say, shouldn't you tell Harima-senpai about this?" Sarah asked her. "I'm sure he'd protect you at any cost…and when it comes to scaring people, he's definitely very good at it."

"Oh, I don't know…" Yakumo said, troubled. "Harima-san seems to be rather moody ever since school started again, you know that. He hasn't complained about anything, of course, but I don't want to burden him with my problems as well…"

"Don't be silly, Yakumo; he'll get even more upset if he finds out you kept such a thing from him. And quite rightly too – this is a serious matter, and it involves more than just you; this is not the time to be ashamed to ask for help."

Yakumo could not help agreeing with that; Sarah was right, if she alone was powerless in this predicament, she should not hesitate to turn to the person she trusted the most for help. Shortly afterwards the girls arrived home and started making dinner; Harima returned while they were in the middle of cooking. Yakumo noticed with considerable relief that he seemed to be in a much better mood today than he had ever been since the start of the semester – more relaxed, cheerful even. As always he assisted them with dinner preparations and then the three of them sat down to dinner. "I hope the food was to your liking, Harima-san," Yakumo said when they were done eating.

"Your cooking's the best as always, Imouto-san," Harima said with his usual kindness, smiling at the two girls. Yakumo and Sarah exchanged a look – Harima always praised Yakumo's cooking, but his smile was a rare sight indeed. "Did something good happen today, Harima-senpai?" Sarah asked curiously. "You seem to be in a very good mood."

"Oh – no, nothing much; I'm just excited about the sports festival tomorrow," he said awkwardly; he normally wasn't the secretive type, but the conversation he had with Ojou earlier and most of all that hug were a tad too personal for sharing. Yakumo was a bit surprised to hear him say this; during the previous days the mere mention of the words 'sports festival' seemed to plunge Harima-san into the blackest depression. Well, now it was her turn to be depressed by those words. She thought she could hide it well enough, but with just one look at her countenance Harima realized something was off. "What's the matter, Imouto-san? You seem to be worried about something," he asked with concern.

"Umm…no, I, that is…" Yakumo said, fidgeting; she wanted to talk to him about her problem, but how was she to tell him without revealing her special ability? "You can't fool me, something is bothering you," Harima insisted. "Come on, out with it."

Yakumo looked across the table at Sarah, silently pleading for help; thinking quickly, her friend addressed Harima in turn. "You're right, Harima-senpai, we…we should tell you about this. That's what I've been telling Yakumo myself, but you see…it's kind of hard to believe."

"Try me," he replied persistently; whatever this was about, he got the feeling it was serious, and he was starting to get really worried. "Well…" Sarah went on, "the thing is, today, Yakumo and I…heard a rumor. Yes, that's it, a rumor."

"What kind of rumor?" Harima asked. "Well…you know that Yakumo is very popular, right?" Sarah told him. "According to what we heard, some boys from other classes want to team up during the horse-riding battle in order to snatch Yakumo's headband…and…and divide it among themselves. There's quite a number of them, so you can understand why we are upset about this, right?" She looked at Harima's face anxiously, wondering whether he'd buy this story. She had purposely said 'some' boys instead of 'all' to make it sound more believable, but still it was quite the tall tale.

"They _what_?" Harima said, flushing with anger. "Why those idiotic, hormone-crazed perverts, how could they think of ganging up on a girl for a freaking headband? What are they, fetishists or something? Don't you worry, Imouto-san," he added fiercely, putting a protective hand on Yakumo's shoulder. "I'll be there to watch over you no matter what, and if these creeps so much as try to lay a hand on you I'll squash them flat, you may be sure of it."

"But, Harima-san…you could get in trouble if you interfere…" Yakumo tried to object, but Harima would have none of it. "Don't talk nonsense," he said decisively. "Your safety is more important than anything else." "But…" "No buts," he replied tersely. "I'm going to be there at the horse-riding battle and that's final. Now try to relax and get a good night's sleep so that you can do your best tomorrow."

Seeing there was no changing his mind about this, Yakumo did not press the point any further, although she was still worried about all this. They cleared up the table and washed the dishes, and soon afterwards they headed for their bedrooms; they needed to sleep early for the big day tomorrow. "Are you still worried, Yakumo?" Sarah asked while the two of them were changing into their nightwear. "It should be fine now that Harima-senpai said he'll watch over you, right?"

"Well, yes…that's good to know, but I'm afraid Harima-san will get in trouble if he picks a fight with anyone during the battle. He could even get suspended because of me…that would be terrible," Yakumo said, obviously still troubled.

"It probably won't come to that," Sarah tried to reassure her. "I mean, Harima-senpai is scary enough as it is; maybe just seeing him nearby will make those foolish boys think twice before attacking your team. Well, I must confess I feel guilty too for lying to him like that…I'll have a lot to repent for in my next confession," she said with a hint of remorse. "But it was to protect you, so I'm sure God will forgive me."

Yakumo squeezed her friend's hands affectionately. "Sarah…you really are the best friend a girl could wish for. I'm truly blessed to have so many people who care about me…I don't deserve it, really," she said, deeply moved. "Of course you deserve it, Yakumo…you shouldn't put yourself down like that," Sarah said. "But enough of this; we should get some sleep now, and, God willing, all will be better tomorrow." Yakumo nodded, and within minutes they were fast asleep.

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The next day, Harima set off for school earlier than Yakumo and Sarah – the third-years' events started earlier than those of the second-years'. As soon as he got to school he headed for the racetrack where most of his classmates were already assembled. Eri was there too, together with Mikoto and Akira, who had left 3-D for a few minutes to wish good luck to her friends. Eri smiled as she saw him approach, but her smile quickly faded when she saw the grim expression on his face. She wondered anxiously what was the matter this time – Hige hadn't changed his mind about what they had agreed yesterday, had he? "What's going on?" she asked him straight out as soon as he came near, determined to get to the bottom of this at once. "Are you…still worried about the race?" she added, waiting for his answer with no little nervousness.

Harima shook his head. "No, this isn't about me," he said. He hesitated for a second, then he figured he might as well tell the girls about Yakumo's predicament – they undoubtedly had more brains than him who usually solved everything with his fists, and their assistance would come in handy right now. "Here's the thing…" and he briefly relayed to them what he had heard from Sarah last night. The three girls' eyes widened in astonishment as they heard what he had to say, and for a few moments after he was done they kept staring at him wide-eyed, unable to even speak.

"A-are you for real?" Mikoto finally said incredulously. "But that's so dangerous! Yakumo could get trampled to death!"

"I know, right?" Harima said, getting worked up all over again. "But I'll be damned if I let any of those nitwits touch even a hair of Imouto-san's head. I'm going to watch that horse-riding battle from as close as I can, and if they try anything at all I'm going to beat the stuffing out of them even if I get expelled for it."

Eri did not even attempt to stop him. Assuredly she was worried he might get into serious trouble over this, but she knew full well there was no stopping him when it came to protecting Yakumo. Besides, she was concerned about the girl's safety as well; she and Yakumo had their differences in the past, but she certainly had no wish for her to come into any harm. In a dangerous situation such as this there was no room for petty jealousies. "Of course, you should be there in case something bad happens," she said approvingly, then turning to her friends, "Actually, we should tag along too, right girls? I don't know if we will be of much help, but still…" The other two nodded immediately and Akira said, "Well, in the worst case scenario, I do have a couple of smoke bombs we could use." "S-smoke bombs…Really, Akira, you shouldn't bring such dangerous things to school…" Mikoto said awkwardly. Then, turning to Eri again she asked, "What about your events though? You can't go over to the horse-riding battle until we're done with our races, right?"

"The second-years' events start after ours and the horse-riding battle is second to last, so we should have finished before it starts," replied Eri. "But just to be on the safe side, let's go check the program, okay?" The rest of the group nodded in agreement and walked over to the notice board where the program was posted. As it turned out, Akira would be the one to finish first, since she did not participate in many events. Next was Mikoto, who would be free after the women's relay race, while Eri and Harima would be occupied for the longest time since their three-legged race was the last event for the third-years. Yakumo's horse-riding battle would start about forty minutes after the end of the three-legged race, so if nothing unforeseen happened there would be plenty of time to get there and watch it. Akira promised to head there as soon as she was done and save a good spot for the rest of them, and with that they went back to their respective classes – the opening speech for the sports festival would begin soon.

All classes were gathered under the podium where the teachers were assembled, along with Anegasaki Tae the school nurse, a beautiful and feminine woman who had a soft spot for Harima ever since that time when he had freeloaded in her house for a few days. After the end of Katou-sensei's boring speech and just when the students were dispersing to head to their various events, Tae spotted Harima from the podium and called out to him, "Hario-kuuun! If you get injured, make sure to come to the infirmary immediately, okay…?" In order to avoid any weird misunderstandings about him and the nurse cropping up again, Harima pretended not to hear and turned to go – and nearly jumped out of his skin as he saw Eri glaring at him. He hadn't been on the receiving end of that glare in a while and had forgotten just how scary it could be – not to mention he didn't remember doing anything to deserve it this time. "W-what?" he asked, kind of abashed.

"Just take care not to get injured today, Hige," rumbled Eri ominously. "Sports injuries can be more dangerous to your health than you know." Then she turned around and set off for her first race and Harima did the same, reminding himself to steer clear of the infirmary today even if he was at death's door. He wasn't sure why, but he had a feeling that no matter what the cause, going there would do him infinitely more harm than good.

Like last year, the victories in most events were evenly divided between 3-C and 3-D. The 3-C boys lost the tug-of-war to 3-D, much to Harima's annoyance. It wasn't entirely unexpected; 3-D had a very strong team, all the more now that they had Hanai in their ranks as well. Still, Harima and the others put up a fair fight and for quite a while the outcome was undecided; but then that airhead Imadori spotted Mikoto in the distance and let one of his hands go of the rope in order to wave at her, "Yoo-hoo! Are you watching us, Miko-chin?" It was all 3-D needed to prevail. Harima was seriously miffed afterwards; as if losing wasn't bad enough, he had to hear Tougou harping on and on about how 'their manly spirit had carried the day' and a load more of similar crap. Only the fact that Imadori was in the men's relay team kept him from giving him the smacking he amply deserved.

"Never mind, Harima," Asou said, clapping him on the shoulder. "We'll get them back at the men's relay." Ever since the match and the trip Harima had gotten a bit closer to Asou and Suga and they hung out sometimes together during breaks. Asou had even invited him to join the basketball team, but he had regretfully declined because of his work.

"Yeah, we will, that is unless Imadori veers off course to chase after Suou's breasts again," Suga said sullenly. To their surprise, Asou laughed. "Don't worry, he'll run like he's never run before," he assured them. "I have a plan."

For the rest of the men's events the two classes were evenly matched; Harima had the pleasure of beating Tougou soundly at the 400m race – at least _that_ shut him up – while Asou and Umezou won most of their races too, but still 3-D had won more events and they were leading on the scoreboard, if only by a few points.

On the other hand, the 3-C girls won the tug-of-war with ease; with both Lala and Ichijou on the same side of the rope none of the other classes even attempted to put up a fight. They won a lot of speed races as well, mostly Kido Madoka and Eri, and also the women's relay race. Eri was especially pleased about winning the relay, since she felt she had redeemed herself for causing her team to lose last year. But 3-D won about as much events as them, and towards the end it was first in the overall score with 3-C close behind. In order to win, 3-C would have to get first place both in the men's relay race and the three-legged race, which were the two remaining events.

The men's relay team from 3-C was the same as last year, with the exception of Hanai who was replaced by Umezou. Fortunately this year there were no pig-tripping accidents and Umezou was in top form, but still 3-D's team was no easy opponent, especially with Hanai in it. The team's main problem however was whether Imadori would run seriously, but Asou had come prepared. His brilliant plan was simple: just as he passed the baton to Imadori he said, "Hey, I heard Ichijou's coming to ask you on a date!" That was it. Imadori ran as if he was being pursued by the devil himself – or by a pro-wrestler with superhuman strength who had a crush on him. Poor Karen evidently had a long way to go before Imadori could see her as something other than an alien with superpowers.

This time the anchors of the two teams were Hanai and Harima. While they waited for their teammates to pass the batons to them Hanai said loftily, "I'm afraid I won't go easy on you, Harima-kun; there's no way I can lose while Yakumo-kun is cheering for me." Harima rolled his eyes; really, that four-eyes was one of a kind when it came to delusions. "First off, four-eyes, I don't remember asking you to go easy on me," he sneered, "and secondly, Imouto-san is not even here now, she's cheering for her own class." And just as Hanai was trying to get over the shock of realizing that Yakumo wasn't going to see him run, their teammates came with the batons and Harima grabbed the baton from Umezou and started sprinting with all his might.

Hanai did not go down without a fight; even without Yakumo watching him he would still do his utmost for his class. For most of the final dash the two of them were neck and neck; but in the end, with a tremendous effort, Harima won by a hair's breadth amidst loud cheers from his class. Now the scores of the two classes were tied; the three-legged race would determine the victors.

After exchanging high-fives with the rest of his team, Harima set off to find his partner for the three-legged race. His legs were still shaking; he had done a lot of running today, and that dash with four-eyes right now had been quite exhausting. Eri, who was sitting on her own at the moment – Mikoto had gone to find Akira – saw him coming and went over to welcome him with a towel and a water bottle – and an approving smile that warmed his heart. "You did good today," she said, handing him the bottle.

"Thanks, you too." He drank some water and splashed the rest on his face, then wiped himself off with the towel. "How long before our race starts?"

"Ten minutes. Are you up for it?"

"Of course, who'd you take me for? We're this close to winning, no way I'm giving up now…besides, everyone's counting on us, right?"

"Yes, the score is tied now, so it's all up to us," Eri said. "And I don't want to let them down either." For a moment they stared at each other in silent understanding; no matter how many things they argued about, this was one thing they always agreed on, and both of them knew that they could count on each other for support. That was probably what both of them had missed the most during their time of estrangement: being each other's strength.

As soon as Harima caught his breath they headed for the starting point of the race. Harry was already there with Tamura Momoka, a pretty girl with long black hair. She was gazing at Harry with such a lovestruck expression that any fool could see she had already become part of his list of conquests. Seeing them approach, Harry gave Harima one of his usual smug smiles.

"Well then Mr. Samurai, let's both do our best," he said. "Although I'm not sure your best will be good enough."

Harima smirked. "That's pretty big talk for someone who lost the relay just now," he said derisively. "That was then and this is now," countered Harry coolly. "And, Harima-kun? Try not to get too distracted by Sawachika-san's beauty and fall down again."

Harima went crimson with anger; unbeknownst to him, Harry had struck a little too close to home. "As if I'd get distracted by something like that! I'm not a womanizer like you!" he shouted angrily, but Harry merely waved at him dismissively and headed for his spot. Momoka ran to catch up to him asking eagerly, "What about you, McKenzie-kun, I'm not distracting you at all?" "I'm struggling to keep my concentration every minute, my fair lady," Harry said gallantly, taking her hand, while Momoka gazed at him, mesmerized. Harima rolled his eyes yet again – really, 3-D was packed full of weirdoes again this year – and was about to head for his own spot when he saw Eri eyeing him askance. "What is it now?" he asked impatiently.

"I'm just trying to decide whether you just said something admirable or something really insulting for me," Eri said. "Decide that after the race if you don't mind," he said sharply, "because I'm not about to lose to that pretentious idiot." He half expected her to get mad at him, but to his surprise she laughed instead. "Now _that_ I can understand," she said, nudging him to hurry. "Let's go get'em."

It was evident right from the start that this race was going to be a tough one; all classes had selected their best runners for this event, and it was anyone's guess who would prevail in the end. Harry and Momoka took the lead right from the start, followed closely by Eri and Harima, with the rest of the runners close behind them. About halfway through the race, just when they started picking up speed in order to overtake 3-D's team, one of the other pairs tried to overtake them and the male runner bumped into Eri's shoulder, causing her to miss her step and shoving her hard against Harima. For a second she was certain they were going to fall, but Harima managed to remain standing even though for a few seconds he had to support the weight of them both with his left leg alone. But during those few seconds that interceded until both of them had regained their footing another pair of runners had overtaken them, and the gap between them and 3-D's team had widened.

But Harima did not give up; gritting his teeth he started accelerating again, running faster than he had ever run before. His face was twisted in pain, Eri noted with concern, but his expression was set; he was determined to win at all costs. Well, if that was the case, she wasn't going to be the one holding him down. Gripping his waist tightly she increased her speed as well, matching his pace perfectly. Soon they overtook the second pair and closed in on Harry and Momoka, who were astonished to see that their victory was not assured after all. Right at the end, with a final mad dash, Eri and Harima overtook them as well and crossed the finish line first.

Overjoyed with their victory, Eri looked up at Harima with a big grin on her face, her cheeks flushed with effort and happiness. He smiled back at her for a second, then a spasm of pain shot across his face again and he leaned heavily against her, groaning slightly. "Hige, you're hurt!" Eri cried out in alarm, gripping his waist again to support him. "It's nothing," he said while still gasping for breath. "I think I pulled a muscle or something just now," he went on, pointing at his left leg. "It'll probably be all right in a sec."

"Don't you want me to take you to the infirmary?" Eri asked with concern. Normally she wouldn't let him anywhere near that nurse, but if he was really injured…_Besides, I'm not going to leave them alone even for a second._

He shook his head. "Not enough time," he said. "I can't walk fast right now and if I go all the way to the infirmary and back I'll miss the horse-riding battle. I'll just sit down over there and rest my leg for a bit. It might've been better if I could wrap it up too but there's no helping it."

_So you're not missing that battle even though you can barely walk right now,_ Eri thought, sighing wearily. Hige could be so obstinate about certain things…but that was just how he was, and she loved him for that as well. "Here's what we're going to do," she said. "You get some rest over there and I'll run over to the infirmary and get some bandage to wrap your leg. If I go right now we should have plenty of time to go to the horse-riding battle after I get back."

"You sure? Aren't you tired from the race too?" Harima asked. "I can manage at least that much," Eri said confidently. "Besides, you won't be of much use to Yakumo if you can't even stand straight." She reached down and untied their legs, then putting her arm around his waist once more she helped him walk over to the grass near the racetrack. As soon as he had sat down, Eri turned around and started running again, this time towards the infirmary.

While she ran her mind was working furiously to find an excuse to give Anegasaki-sensei when she asked what she needed the bandages for. She couldn't say they were for Hige, because then the nurse might insist to have him brought over to the infirmary, and if she said they were for herself Anegasaki-sensei would probably want to treat her on the spot, and of course she would realize she wasn't injured. She was still raking her brains about it when she got to the infirmary, but to her relief it was quite busy there when she arrived; a bunch of injured first-year boys were inside, vying persistently for Anegasaki-sensei's attentions. Eri strongly suspected their injuries were exaggerated, but whatever; thanks to them her presence would pass unnoticed. She slipped noiselessly inside, grabbed a roll of bandages from a shelf and then quietly slipped out again and started running back as fast as she could.

She found Harima lying on his back on the grass with his eyes closed, but he sat up as soon as he heard her approach. Eri handed him the bandages and he started wrapping his leg up, but he was rather clumsy about it. "Here, let me," Eri said, kneeling by his side, and started wrapping the bandage around his leg anew. While she worked he looked down at her gratefully; Ojou might be a huge pain in the butt most of the time, but he had to admit she always looked out for him when it counted. Slowly he raised a hand as if to pat her head, but just then she looked up again and he quickly withdrew it.

"All done," Eri said. "Is this better?" Harima nodded and stood up again, then took a few experimental steps. His leg was still hurting a bit but he could at least walk without help. "Should be okay," he said. "Let's get going, the battle's going to start soon."

They set off for the soccer field where the horse-riding battle would take place at a slow pace – fortunately there was still about a quarter of an hour before the start. While they were walking Eri asked suddenly, "You know, I've been meaning to ask you, does the rest of Yakumo's team know about this?"

"I hadn't thought about it, but I don't think Imouto-san told anyone besides Sarah-chan," replied Harima. "It was a pain getting her to tell even me."

"But shouldn't they know about such a thing?" Eri asked again. "I mean, if they suddenly see the other teams charging towards them they might panic and drop Yakumo or something. And besides, now that your leg's hurt you may not manage to get to her in time if she's too far away. Her teammates will be the one closest to her, so I think they should know that she might need their help."

She did have a point there, Harima admitted to himself. "Well, I don't mind telling them, but I don't even know who's in her team," he said. "Really stupid of me, I should have thought to ask her yesterday." By now they were nearing the soccer field and they could see the second-years assembling for the battle. "It might not be too late to find out even now," Eri said. "If only we could spot Yakumo or even someone from her class we know, they could tell us." Both of them craned their necks and started scanning the crowd for a familiar face.

"Oh, isn't that Hirayama-kun over there?" Eri said, spotting his unusually light hair which stood out even from that distance. "You're right, that's him. Hey, Hirayama!" Harima called out. Hearing his voice, Hirayama turned around and walked over to them. "Good day, senpais," he said with his usual politeness. "You did very well in your races today."

"Yeah, thanks," Harima said hurriedly. "Listen, do you have any idea who is in Imouto-san's horse team?"

"As it happens, I'm her front horseman, senpai," Hirayama said calmly. "Oh, are you?" Harima said with considerable relief; now he didn't have to worry about finding Yakumo's teammates in time to warn them. "Look, there's something you need to know…" and he repeated the story once again.

"A rumor? Is that what Tsukamoto-san said?" Hirayama-kun asked after he had heard everything. "Yeah, but that doesn't matter now, right?" Harima said impatiently. "What's important is to keep Imouto-san safe from those pervs. I'm going to keep an eye on her from outside, and if anything happens I won't mind cracking a few heads if need be, but I figured you should be prepared too since you're going to be with her."

"I understand," Hirayama said with his eternal composure, "but in my opinion, cracking heads isn't the answer here, senpai." "Well it's not like I want to, but if Imouto-san is in danger…" Harima started saying, when Hirayama did something he had never done before – he interrupted him.

"Harima-senpai," he said, raising his voice just a little. "I realize that you are very concerned about Tsukamoto-san's safety; but there is no need for you to get involved in this." There was something steely and determined about his voice as he went on to say, "You can leave Tsukamoto-san's protection to _me_."

Harima stared at him straight in the eyes for one long minute. "I'm still going to be close by, in case you need help," he said quietly. Then, in a much more serious tone, "Hirayama…make no mistake about this. If anything happens to Imouto-san – anything at all – I'm not going to let it slide, you got that?"

"Loud and clear, senpai," Hirayama said steadily. Then he bowed politely and left, heading towards where class 2-D was gathered.

Eri and Harima watched him go silently for a moment, then Eri turned to Harima and asked, somewhat puzzled, "Hige…is it just me or did Hirayama-kun seem kind of different right now?"

"No, I think so too," Harima said perplexedly, shaking his head. "It's like he suddenly grew a backbone or something." He stared at the departing Hirayama thoughtfully for a second, then he turned to Eri again. "Anyway, let's go find Suou and Takano for now. I hope they found someplace close to the field for us to sit." Eri nodded and they started looking for their friends.

After leaving them behind, Hirayama-kun headed towards his assembled classmates, walking briskly. He found Yakumo soon enough amidst her friends and walked straight up to her. "Tsukamoto-san, a word if you don't mind," he said directly and guided Yakumo a little further off, gently but firmly. Yakumo was somewhat surprised with his attitude – this was the first time Hirayama-kun had asked to speak with her in private – but she trusted him enough by now and so she didn't think too much of it.

"I saw Harima-senpai just now," Hirayama-kun said without preamble. "He told me a very interesting story about a rumor that some of our opponents are out to get your headband. Is this true, Tsukamoto-san?"

Yakumo went pale; there was no way she could tell Hirayama-kun the truth without divulging her secret, but on the other hand she didn't have the confidence that she could lie to him convincingly. "D-do you think I'm lying, Hirayama-kun?" she asked in an effort to buy time.

"I never said that," Hirayama-kun said evenly, "but the thing is, I never heard of any such rumor. Kind of odd, don't you agree?"

"I – I'm not sure what you mean by that," Yakumo said, fidgeting; she had this feeling that he could see right through her and it was deeply unsettling. "If you don't believe me, you can go ahead and say it."

"I'll tell you what I believe," Hirayama-kun said in the same even tone. "I believe you are correct about this headband hunt. But you didn't _hear _about it anywhere, am I right?"

Yakumo froze in panic – what did he mean by that? Could it be that Hirayama-kun had found out about her special ability? But how? Only she and Sarah knew about this, and surely neither of them had told him. Or maybe he could read minds as well? It was true that during those few months that she knew him, every now and again she got the feeling that he understood her too well for someone who knew her so little. But if that were the case, why hadn't he said anything about this before? She didn't know what to think about this riddle; and for the first time in living memory she tried – she actually _tried_ – to read his thoughts, but as always all she could pick up was that godforsaken static. However, from his countenance she realized that, whatever his thoughts on the matter, he wasn't appalled or freaked out about all this. Maybe he could handle at least part of the truth, Yakumo thought; besides, she had to give an answer to his question.

"Yes, you're right, there was no rumor," she whispered almost inaudibly. "I just…_knew_ about this. It's – it's hard to explain, so don't ask me how – I just did…"

"Oh, I see," Hirayama-kun said, not surprised in the least. "This must be what people call female intuition."

_Female intuition? He really believes that?_ Yakumo wondered in astonishment. It didn't seem likely that someone smart like Hirayama-kun would draw such a nonsensical conclusion. Well, it would be quite convenient for her if he did believe that, but… "S-something like that, yes," she said awkwardly. "Of – of course I realize it's too much to expect you to trust such a thing, but…"

"Oh, I trust your female intuition very much, Tsukamoto-san," Hirayama-kun said with a slight smile. "In fact, I think we should make use of it in this battle. I'm positive it will be a big help."

"M-make use of it? What do you mean?" Yakumo asked, more astonished than ever. Up till then she had never thought of her ability as something she could use; she always considered it nothing more than a source of distress. She had used it to defend herself on occasion, but that was more of an instinctive reaction rather than something she had done deliberately.

"Well, for example…if your intuition tells you that another team is coming in from the left, you should squeeze my left shoulder," he explained. "If it tells you they're coming from the right, squeeze my right shoulder. And if it's from behind, squeeze them both."

"And what if…my intuition tells me that someone is about to hit or kick you?" Yakumo asked tentatively. "Let's see…in that case, give a tug at my hair," he said, pointing at the overgrown tufts at the base of his neck. Yakumo however still looked at him doubtfully; she wasn't sure this plan was going to work. What if she couldn't read the boys' thoughts accurately enough in the confusion? "It will be all right," Hirayama-kun said reassuringly, staring deeply into her eyes. "Have confidence in your abilities, Tsukamoto-san, and all will go well."

On that note they separated; Hirayama-kun went to find the other two members of the team, and Yakumo went to wish good luck to her friends before the battle. She really wanted to talk to Sarah about all this, but there was no time. It would have to wait until after the battle – assuming she'd be still in one piece by then.

Quite contrary to their usually calm nature, Kitagawa-kun and Sotomura-kun were pacing about apprehensively when Hirayama-kun approached them. "This doesn't look good, Hirayama," Kitagawa-kun said nervously when he came near. "I don't know if it's my imagination, but it feels like all the other teams have their eyes on us."

"Since our rider is Tsukamoto-san it's only natural that we'd attract attention, Kitagawa," Hirayama-kun said calmly. "She is widely admired after all." "Yeah, don't remind me," Sotomura-kun grumbled. "Kana-chan nearly killed me when she learned that I'd be carrying Tsukamoto-san today. She's usually so sweet, too, I never thought she could be so violent." "Believe me, it's not just her," Kitagawa-kun sighed. "It was pretty much the same with Mayumi-chan. Man, as if coping with our girlfriends' jealousy is not enough, now we have to deal with all those love-crazed fanboys as well."

Hirayama-kun cast a look about the field where most of the other teams were already assembled. Kitagawa-kun was right: the vast majority of the other teams had their eyes trained on them, clearly intending to attack them at the first opportunity. "I guess there's no denying we're in for a hard time," he told the other two. "But I think we'll be all right if we remain calm and focused. You two just keep it together and follow my lead no matter what, okay?" The two boys nodded, somewhat encouraged by his words, and just then Yakumo joined them and they went to get in formation.

Fortunately there were two circumstances in their favor. One was that they were positioned at the far end, which meant it would be difficult for many teams to get to them all at once. The other was that Sarah was partly right: seeing Harima on standby at the edge of the field, glaring at the other teams with eyes full of killing intent, made some of the more timid boys reconsider and decide that even Tsukamoto-san's attentions weren't worth getting killed over. Unfortunately the greatest portion of the teams weren't deterred that easily, and so despite those favorable occurrences it was evident that Yakumo's team was not going to have it easy.

Understandably, Yakumo realized this as well, and it made her excessively nervous about the outcome; she was still far from convinced that Hirayama-kun's plan would work. She had noticed with relief Harima-san and her sister's friends sitting right at the edge of the field, ready to come to her aid at once if necessary, but even so she would much rather not cause them any trouble if it could be avoided. But could she really do this on her own? she wondered. Hirayama-kun believed she could, and she had come to trust his judgement over those few months of their acquaintance. In any case, there was no harm in trying, she figured; it was definitely better than just sitting there and waiting for others to come rescue her.

Once safely atop her team and while waiting for the starting whistle, Yakumo took a deep breath and started concentrating on the chaotic barrage of incoming thoughts. It wasn't easy; until then, most of the time she was trying to push men's thoughts away from her mind, and having to do the opposite all of a sudden required considerable effort on her part. Moreover, the number of nearby males was much greater than usually, and at first it was almost impossible for her to tell which thoughts belonged to which boy; it was all a jumble in her head. However, after a few minutes of intense concentration, she discovered that the more she focused on the thoughts, the easier it became to tell them apart. It was fortunate that there weren't any distracting thoughts to speak of from her own team; from Hirayama-kun it was just the usual static, and from the other two only a few fleeting thoughts of admiration – good thing that they were good guys and devoted to their girlfriends. When the incoming thoughts had cleared up sufficiently, Yakumo concentrated on shutting out the ones belonging to her classmates and focusing only on those coming from the opposing teams.

Then the starting whistle sounded and the teams charged forward. Prudently, Hirayama-kun did not advance the team too much, just enough to avoid getting cornered at the edge of the field, but still far from the fray. He knew well that the other teams would get to them sooner or later, and it would be better if they did not come at them in large numbers.

Sure enough, after only a few minutes four or five teams appeared, clearly headed straight for them. Hirayama-kun glanced up at Yakumo and she nodded, focusing her attention on them. _The team in the front…they're going to come in from the left!_ Quickly, she squeezed Hirayama-kun's left shoulder. Two seconds later, the opposing team which at first seemed to charge in from the front, suddenly veered to the left, hoping to catch them off guard and snatch Yakumo's headband from the side.

_Whoosh!_ In the nick of time Hirayama-kun sped forward and then made a sharp right turn, bringing them parallel to the other team. As they whisked by, Yakumo reached out and grabbed the rider's band, causing Kitagawa-kun and Sotomura-kun to whoop enthusiastically for the team's first victory.

_Another team…coming from behind!_ One more squeeze, this time with both hands, and Hirayama-kun instantly made a fast U-turn, catching completely off-guard the team attempting to ambush them. Before they could pull themselves together, he bumped into the front horseman just enough to knock him off balance, causing the team to collapse, and so a second headband found its way into Yakumo's hands.

The next team came charging directly from the front. _This one…he means to hit Hirayama-kun!_ She gave a warning tug at his hair and as expected he avoided his opponent's headbutt with ease, at the same time giving a kick at his ankle. While the team struggled to remain standing, Yakumo easily snatched another headband. Little by little her fears began to fade away, and with each victory she grew more confident and excited. This was easy…this was actually kind of fun!

"Don't get distracted now, they're coming in from all sides!" she heard Hirayama-kun's voice below her. He was supposedly addressing the whole team, but Yakumo knew the words were meant for her. She concentrated again, reading the opponents' thoughts and then relaying them to Hirayama-kun. _Right…hit…left…behind…right again…hit…behind…_It was more difficult now, they had more enemy teams to deal with, even with their classmates fending off as many as they could. But Hirayama-kun responded to her instructions with perfect accuracy; he wasn't as strong as some of those against him, but he was quick and had great reflexes. Having the advantage of knowing what his adversary would do next, it was impossible to take him by surprise, and superior strength was of no use to his opponents when they could not land a single hit. In just a few minutes, Yakumo's team had won over a dozen headbands, and the commentator was screaming at the top of his lungs about 'Tsukamoto-san's team's outstanding performance'.

"I…I don't believe this," Eri said in amazement, gaping at them from the side of the field. "Hirayama-kun is evading every attack – how is that possible?" She turned to Harima sitting next to her, who was gaping at them as well, every bit as astonished. "Do you think this is also something Karasuma-kun taught him?"

"I've no idea," Harima said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Karasuma was pretty fast too, but this…I've never seen anything like it. It's like this guy has eyes in the back of his head!"

He wasn't the only one in awe of Hirayama-kun's apparently supernatural perception; the other teams as well started getting intimidated by this fearsome ability. "What is this guy, a freak of nature or something?" Similar comments could be heard among the teams, who were now backing off, trying to avoid Yakumo's team rather than confront it. Encouraged by this mass retreat, they switched to attack mode, going one-on-one with single teams and getting their headbands. As the number of the teams decreased, it became evident that the danger was past and Yakumo finally allowed herself to relax a little. Now that she had nothing more to fear, she might as well enjoy herself a bit and at the same time earn points for her class. She didn't know why she was enjoying this so much; even though she was good in sports they usually weren't that much of an enjoyment for her. Unless…this was because, for the first time, she wasn't feeling guilty about her ability. Being able to read minds always made her feel a bit like a peeping tom; but now her ability had been useful to her team and her class, and that was, perhaps, some sort of atonement. If she could use her ability to help others, then having it might not be such a bad thing after all.

When the battle was over, Yakumo's team had made a new school record in collected headbands and secured class 2-D's first place in the overall score. Their classmates rushed in excitedly to congratulate them, although they gave Hirayama-kun a bit of a wide berth – they, too, were kind of intimidated by his unnatural ability. He didn't seem to take notice however, and when Kitagawa-kun asked him 'how on earth did he do this' he shrugged it off, saying he just 'got lucky'. No one believed him, but since there was no other plausible explanation they let him be and soon afterwards their attention was drawn by the last event of the day – the men's relay. Yakumo, however, could not care less about this. As soon as she got the chance she dragged Sarah off behind the gym, where they could talk without being overheard.

"I'm so happy for you, Yakumo!" Sarah started saying enthusiastically – she was still excited about her best friend's victory. "I was so afraid that something bad might happen to you during the battle, but in the end all went well. And such a result too – Hirayama-kun really was amazing!"

"Sarah…that wasn't Hirayama-kun," Yakumo said, her face deadly serious. "That was _me_." And then she proceeded to tell her friend about the conversation she had with Hirayama-kun and the prearranged signs they had agreed on.

Sarah found herself unable to utter a single word for a long time after Yakumo was done talking – this whole affair seemed just too unreal. "…And he said he thinks…this is female intuition?" she finally said incredulously. "No…I just can't believe it, there's no way Hirayama-kun is so naïve. That sounds more like something Harima-senpai would think!"

"I know," Yakumo said gravely. "But if that's the case…then we have to assume that he knows about my ability."

Sarah's face turned white as a sheet. "Yakumo…as God is my witness, I never said a word about your secret to a living soul."

"I know you didn't," Yakumo said immediately – she had never doubted Sarah in the first place. "But if you didn't, and I didn't, how did he find out about it?"

"Is it possible that he overheard us talking about it?" Sarah asked. "I don't think so," Yakumo said. "For one thing, we've only talked about this once or twice in school, and Hirayama-kun doesn't seem like the eavesdropping type. He usually doesn't even budge from his seat unless someone expressly invites him, so where could he have heard us?"

"Then…do you think he can read minds like you do? Maybe women's minds, in his case?"

"That could be an explanation…but how can I tell for sure?" Yakumo sighed in frustration. "I never thought I'd say this, but I really wish I could read his mind, even just once!"

"You know, Yakumo…" Sarah said perplexedly, "it only just occurred to me, but this is the first time I've seen you so interested in a man other than Harima-senpai."

Yakumo looked abruptly up at her. She hadn't thought about it either, but it was true; with the exception of Harima-san, she had never been this intrigued by a male before. Probably half of it was the fact that she couldn't read his thoughts; it was the same with Harima-san, he had piqued her interest when she realized that she could not sense any thoughts from him. However, Harima-san never had any inkling about her ability and the troubles that came with it, not in the slightest. She could not read him, but he couldn't know what was in her heart either, and that put them on equal footing, so to speak. Hirayama-kun on the other hand…seemed to have the advantage over her. She couldn't read him at all, but he appeared to know things about her that no one else knew. This was a first for Yakumo, and it made her feel insecure; but also, to her surprise, it kindled her curiosity as well. She realized she wanted to know more about Hirayama-kun, she wanted to understand him as well as he seemed to understand her and to find out what kind of person he really was.

"If only…I knew I can trust him, as I know I can trust Harima-san," she said slowly, talking more to herself than to her friend. "Well…" Sarah said thoughtfully, "judging from his conduct just now, Hirayama-kun cannot be called untrustworthy. If he really knows about your secret, he protected it, didn't he? I mean, he kept you safe, and made everyone think it was all his doing, even at the cost of being labeled a freak."

That was true as well, Yakumo had to admit. If Hirayama-kun could read her mind, so far he had never taken advantage of it. Anyone else would have used such an ability to ingratiate himself to her but he had never done that. Even today…the reason he had forced her to admit about her so-called intuition was to help her do what she couldn't do on her own – namely, to use her ability to defend herself. Even so, this was a lot to take in all at once. She needed time to think things over – time and information. Even if she couldn't read Hirayama-kun's mind, there were other ways to get a better understanding of him, as long as she tried – and try she would.

"Anyway, we'd better go back to the others for now," Sarah said. "The after party will start soon. By the way, have you decided who you're going to dance the Oklahoma mixer with? Better make up your mind soon or the boys will start fighting over it."

Yakumo let out another sigh; the last thing she wanted was the after party getting ruined because of the boys competing for her. "Sarah…is it too much to ask you to dance with me? That way no one will get jealous…and besides, I'd rather be with you now than anyone else."

Sarah beamed at her. "Of course not, Yakumo, there's no way I would prefer some guy over my best friend." Yakumo smiled back at her and they left to join their classmates.

SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR SRSRSR

The after party was well under way, the students dancing merrily in pairs around the big bonfire in the middle. Harima wasn't there though; he was sitting on his own again in a corner, looking at the festivities from afar. But it was all right this time, he wasn't an outcast anymore. He simply didn't feel like dancing, and his leg was hurting again despite the bandages – all he really wanted was to rest.

Although he had been injured, he felt content about how the day had gone by. He had won most of his events, and helped his class get first place too. It meant a lot to him that he was truly a part of this class now and his classmates considered him as one of them. In the past he thought he didn't need anyone else, but looking back now he knew he didn't want to be such a lonely existence ever again. He would be always grateful to Tenma for this; his love for her might not have brought him happiness, but it had taught him the joy of companionship, of interacting with other people, learning from them and having fun with them. That alone was such a great gift, and to think he had been foolish enough to almost throw it away when he had tried to revert to his past self after his heartbreak. If Ojou hadn't been there for him then…he wondered whether that was why he was so relieved to be friends again with her. When she was there with him...he was sure that she'd never let his weaknesses get the better of him.

Suddenly, like a dejá-vu from last year, his vision was blocked by a blond head. "Sitting all alone in the dark again?" Eri said, looking down at him. "You're not bald this year, you know…?"

"No, but my leg hurts like a bitch." He looked up at her for a second, then asked, "Did you come to ask me to dance again?"

"No," she shook her head, flopping next to him. "You don't need moral support this time around…and besides, with an injured leg you would dance even worse than usual."

He made no comment to that, and for several minutes they just sat side by side, watching the dance. "So…why are you sitting so far away from the others again?" Eri asked eventually.

Harima shrugged. "It's good to have some peace and quiet sometimes," he said quietly. "And it's not like I'm unhappy because I'm sitting here. Watching your friends have a good time…is fun too." He gave Eri a sidelong glance. "What about you, don't you want to dance with the others?"

"Don't feel like it," Eri said. She had no wish to dance with anyone except him, but she didn't want to tell him that, not just yet. "I guess I'm tired too."

"Get some rest then," he said calmly, pointing at his shoulder. Eri gave him a startled look, blushing. "No…there's no need for you to go that far…" she started saying, flustered, but she was stunned speechless when Harima's arm stole around her waist, pulling her closer.

"Don't sweat it so much," he murmured, looking directly ahead towards the fire. "I'm just returning the favor from earlier is all." Eri stared at him for a second, then she obediently leaned her head on his shoulder, smiling contentedly in the dark. A short while ago it would be unthinkable for her to act like this in public, but now being near him like this was much more important than what the others would think. _Normally I'd be embarrassed to death over this…but after everything that's happened it seems kind of pointless. I'm not sure, but…maybe it's a sign that we're getting closer._

Harima was still gazing fixedly at the fire, but even though he wasn't looking at her he could feel her head on his shoulder and knew she was there. It felt good, peaceful – more so than he had felt in weeks. He finally understood that the root of his problems all along was denial. He was afraid to admit that the way he saw Ojou had changed during the trip, but it was plain to him now that he could no longer carry on like this. He still didn't know whether he loved her, but it was obvious that his body desired her; and trying to ignore it wasn't going to get him anywhere. It might be just carnal desire and not real love, it might not amount to anything in the long run, how was he to know? But it was there, and only by acknowledging it would he be able to keep it in check. Ironic as it was, only when he had stopped running away from Ojou he had managed to gain control over his hitherto unbidden lust, and that had made him realize that only if he was honest with himself could he hope to preserve what was really important to him. To be sure, being honest wasn't easy, but he had no alternative. He could no longer deny that even now he wanted to learn the taste of her lips, and caress every part of her body, and do all sorts of indecent things to her…He definitely wanted to do all that, but…_Right now…just having her next to me like this…is more than enough._


	6. Chapter 6 Culture Festival

**Chapter 6 – Culture Festival**

A few weeks after the end of the sports festival the excitement had died down already, and now the whole school was afoot preparing for the upcoming culture festival. It was homeroom time, and class 2-D was having a meeting in order to decide what to do for the culture festival. Currently the class was divided in two factions: those who wanted to open a café and those who wanted to form a band and play a concert.

"A café is too ordinary, half the classes in school will be doing that!" "But a concert won't make us any money, right?" "No, but everyone in the school will see it!" "Only if we get the gymnasium to perform; do you think they'll give it to us that easily?" "Oh, you just want to see the girls dressed in revealing outfits, admit it!" "It's not that! If we do a café, everyone will have a chance to participate, but with a concert it'll be just a handful of people!"

"All right everyone, calm down," said Ozawa Setsuko, one of the two class reps. "We have to decide until the end of the day, and arguing like this won't get us anywhere."

But the class didn't pay any attention to her and the bickering continued with the same intensity. Crestfallen, Ozawa-san turned to the other class rep, Moriyama Hajime. "What do we do now, Moriyama-kun? The vote is tied and as you can see neither side is backing down…Should we just randomly decide on one of the two options?"

"No, if we do that half the class will be dissatisfied and they won't put in a full effort afterwards," Moriyama-kun said. He furrowed his brow, thinking intently, then suddenly his face lit up. "I think I've got it, Ozawa-san," he said to his female colleague, then he turned to the class and tapped his pen loudly on the desk to get their attention. "Here's what I propose," he said, addressing his classmates. "How about we do a live music café?"

The idea was received with an approving buzz at first, but it wasn't uniformly accepted. "Wait a minute," said someone at the back, "there's no way a band can perform continuously for the entire festival time. They'll collapse!"

"Then we'll just have more than one bands and they'll be working in shifts," Moriyama-kun said. "We can't have big bands anyway, the space will be limited. Let's see, how many people do we have who can play musical instruments? Please raise your hands."

A good number of hands was raised – among them Hirayama-kun's who played the guitar and Sarah's who had learnt to play the piano at her convent. The class reps wrote down the names and the instruments and then Ozawa-san said, "Looks like we have enough people who can play instruments; now we have to select the singers. Any suggestions on that?"

Several names were heard at once, but Miki's voice rose above the rest. "If it's singing, it has to be Yakumo-san, no question about it!" she said loudly. "I've heard her sing when we went to karaoke last year and she's amazing!"

"Yes, she really is!" seconded Satsuki. "And besides, everyone will want to come hear her sing! With her, the café will be a smash hit!"

Everyone agreed on this; Yakumo's popularity was well known, and no one doubted that the mere mention of her singing live would make the number of customers skyrocket. "Then, what do you say, Tsukamoto-san? Can we count on you for this?" Ozawa-san asked.

Yakumo was really troubled; for someone as reserved as her, singing in public was quite a trial. On the other hand, everyone in class was staring at her expectantly, and she could not bring herself to let them down by refusing. "I…I will try my best…" she said eventually, blushing up to her ears, and her classmates greeted her decision with enthusiastic applause.

Afterwards a few more singers were selected, and then the bands were decided on. Like Moriyama-kun had said, because of the lack of space they were rather small, just three to four people each. It was mostly up to the singers to select their band members. Yakumo of course chose Sarah, and would have liked to choose another girl as well, but the class reps insisted that the bands should have both boys and girls in them so as to be more popular. Since she didn't have a choice, Yakumo decided to make the best of an awkward situation and selected Hirayama-kun as her other band member. There were two reasons for her choice; one, she wouldn't have to worry about getting distracting thoughts from him while singing and two, she hadn't forgotten about her decision to learn more about him. When all the bands were decided on, they were instructed to decide on their songs and start rehearsing as soon as possible, and soon after that the meeting was brought to a close.

Later that evening, while having dinner, Sarah excitedly told Harima about the café and Yakumo's upcoming live performance. "Ooh, so you'll be singing at the culture festival, Imouto-san?" he said good-naturedly. "It'll be a huge success, that's for sure; I bet the whole school will line up to hear you sing!"

Yakumo blushed yet again, both embarrassed and happy to be praised. "You'll come see our performance too, won't you, Harima-senpai?" Sarah asked eagerly.

"Sure will, I just hope I'll manage to find a seat," Harima said jestingly. "Don't worry about that! Whenever you come we'll save a seat just for you, right Yakumo?" Sarah asked her friend, making her blush even deeper.

"So, I guess you'll be busy rehearsing and stuff from now on, right?" Harima asked. "Yes," Sarah said. "In fact we'll go to karaoke with Hirayama-kun on Saturday to select our songs before we start rehearsals next week. We thought of going to that place on X road; we went there with the senpais last year, a little before spring break. It's cheap and it has a wide song selection."

"Oh, I know that place," Harima said. "Used to work part-time there last winter, it really is good." "You were?" Sarah asked, surprised. "Imagine that…I wonder how come we didn't bump into you when we went there." Then a thought occurred to her and she added, "Well then, since you're more familiar with it, would you like to accompany us on Saturday? You don't have to work this weekend, right?"

"No, I'm free, but…won't I get in your way?" Harima asked. "No, not at all," Sarah hastened to assure him. "I mean…it'll be good to have an outsider's opinion too, don't you think so, Yakumo?" she asked, turning to her friend. "Y-yes, your opinion means a lot to us, Harima-san," Yakumo said timidly. "Well…in that case, I'll be happy to help," he said, and Sarah congratulated herself for the date she had just arranged for her friend.

"Good, it's settled then," she said happily. "I think this'll be a very successful culture festival." Yakumo nodded as well, and then addressed Harima in turn. "By the way, Harima-san…what will your class be doing for the culture festival?"

Much to their surprise, Harima suddenly banged his head quite loudly on the dinner table. "Don't ask," he groaned. "I beg of you, Imouto-san…please don't ask."

The next day, after classes were over, Yakumo and Sarah were at the club room of the tea ceremony club, together with their president Akira. This was going to be the last of their meetings for a while because all club activities were to be suspended until the end of the culture festival, in order to give the students time to prepare for it. While they were quietly enjoying their tea and sweets – today it was Darjeeling tea and British scones – Yakumo was thinking over and over about Harima-san's strange reaction yesterday when she mentioned the culture festival. What could class 3-C have planned to make him so upset? Surely Takano-senpai would know…Mustering her courage, she finally ventured to ask, "Takano-senpai…you wouldn't happen to know what Harima-san's class will do for the culture festival, would you?"

"I do know," Akira replied calmly, "but why don't you ask Harima himself about it?"

"We did, yesterday," Yakumo said, "but he wouldn't tell us. In fact, he seemed quite upset about it…so I was wondering why…"

"Well, it's not a secret or anything; they'll be doing a maid and butler café," Akira said. "My class will be doing the exact same thing."

"What – 3-C and 3-D will have the same event?" Sarah asked curiously. "How did that happen?"

"Well, you see…at first my class decided to do a maid and butler café," Akira started explaining. "Then Tougou-kun got into his head to make a competition with 3-C – you know how he gets all worked up over such things – and he went to challenge them."

"And they accepted just like that?" Sarah asked again. "At first they didn't want to, but Tougou-kun was very persistent about it," Akira said. "He even offered to provide costumes for both classes and everything – and in the end, he managed to get them to go along with it."

"I – I see," Yakumo said. However, she wasn't satisfied by this explanation; even if it was a competition with 3-D, a maid and butler café wasn't such an outrageous activity. "But…I still don't understand why Harima-san was so upset about all this…"

"I don't see why you're so surprised," Akira said composedly, taking a sip of her tea. "It's only natural that he wouldn't like being dressed as a maid."

Both Yakumo and Sarah spat out their tea simultaneously. "M-maid?" Yakumo blurted out coughing, for once completely shocked out of her calmness. "Why would Harima-san have to dress as a maid?"

"Oh I didn't tell you, did I?" Akira said with affected innocence. "The main theme is 'reverse maid and butler café'. The girls will be dressed as butlers…and the boys as maids."

SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR SR

The weekend arrived and on Saturday afternoon Yakumo and Sarah headed out with Harima to meet Hirayama-kun at the station. After learning just what Harima's class would be doing for the culture festival, the two girls had carefully avoided talking about it in front of him, although both of them were really curious as to whether he would actually agree to dress up as a maid. Fully aware that reminding him of it would be rather destructive for his mood, they had unanimously decided to just keep quiet about the subject; after all, in due time they would find out anyway what he was going to do about it.

Hirayama-kun was waiting for them in front of the station with his guitar on his back. Although the girls hadn't told him that Harima was coming along too, he didn't seem at all surprised or displeased at the sight of him. He greeted them politely and the four of them set off for the karaoke parlor, the two guys walking in front and the two girls behind them. When they got there, they booked a room and settled in and then Sarah asked Hirayama-kun, "So…what songs do you think we should go with, Hirayama-kun?"

"Well…since Tsukamoto-san is the lead singer, I think we should go with songs she's good at," Hirayama-kun said. "What do you like to sing the most, Tsukamoto-san?" he asked, turning to Yakumo.

"I guess…ballads mostly," Yakumo said shyly. "Nothing too fast…or too loud. Does this agree with you, Hirayama-kun?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes, I'm fine with it," he said. "Ballads go well with the acoustic guitar, and we can't play very loud music in a café anyway. So, why don't you and Adiemus-san pick out a few songs and we'll give them a try, okay?"

Yakumo nodded and together with Sarah started browsing through the song list. In the meantime Hirayama-kun took his guitar out of its case and started tuning it.

"Oh, I see you're as good as a pro, Hirayama," Harima said approvingly. "Guess those lessons you took were worth their money."

"This is nothing much, senpai," Hirayama said calmly. After a few more moments of tuning he turned towards Harima and asked, "By the way, where did you learn to play the guitar? You said you were self-taught, but someone must have shown you the basics at least."

"Yeah, you're right," Harima said. "See, a few years back I ran away from home and lived on the streets for a while. There was this guy in one of the joints I hung around – an American, but he had served in Okinawa for a long time and could speak decent Japanese. He played on the streets to get a bit of cash during the day – most of it he spent on liquor though. I heard him play one night at the bar and the sound kind of stuck with me. Whenever I happened to catch him playing I stuck around to listen – and at some point he noticed. Maybe he liked having someone who listened to his music, I don't know, but he taught me a bit how to play. Later on when I managed to save up a bit, I bought a used guitar and started practicing on my own. Didn't get very far though, I can just play a few songs I've memorized by ear. But I mostly play for myself, so I guess it doesn't matter how good I am."

"And what happened to the man who taught you?" Hirayama asked again. "Don't know, one day he just disappeared," replied Harima. "Happens all the time in the slums. I'm just glad I got out of this kind of life before I ended up like him."

While he was talking Yakumo had raised her head and was listening to him intently. This was the first time she had heard Harima-san talk about his past. To some degree, she could understand why he had kept quiet about it last year; her sister was already distrustful of him as it were, if she knew he had this kind of past she'd never want to have anything to do with him. Personally, Yakumo didn't think having lived such a life was necessarily a bad thing; Tenma was stricter than her in that regard, probably because she was always worried about her little sister's well-being. Still, it was kind of sad knowing that despite all his love and his efforts, Harima had never managed to truly open himself up to the one he loved. But then again, she too had never managed to be completely open with him, even though she believed she had feelings for him. For the first time she wondered about this: if she really wanted to spend the rest of her life with a certain person, shouldn't she at least have the confidence that she could reveal to him anything and everything about herself? Sharing a peaceful everyday life was well and good, but did she and Harima really know each other? They did have a bond, she believed, but what kind of bond it was? Up till then Yakumo thought that this feeling of trust and comfort she had around him would be enough to make her want to be near him forever, but maybe…maybe it wasn't enough after all. Maybe true love was more complex than she had thought.

She remembered again that night last year when she had stayed over in his house to help him with his manga. She had asked him then 'what does it mean to go out with someone' and he had answered 'riding a motorcycle on the coastline to see a beautiful dawn, or eating good food together, or watching an interesting movie together…piling up happy moments such as these'. Yakumo didn't think this was entirely wrong…but somehow just having a good time together didn't seem adequate to her. She had that with her friends too, so if that's all it was how would a boyfriend be any different? Problem was, she wasn't sure what more was needed for a romantic relationship. Could it be it was just the indecent stuff men always thought about? She didn't want to believe that…it would be so disappointing. Unfortunately she didn't really know any couple she could get a reference from; as luck would have it, practically everyone around her was condemned to unrequited love: her sister, Harima-san, Sawachika-senpai, Hanai-senpai…Therefore she had no choice but to try and figure out this riddle all by herself.

What would it take to set a man apart from all the others who scared and repulsed her? From what limited experience she had, evidently the inability to read his thoughts was a must; the only two guys she had been able to be around without pushing herself shared this one common trait, although otherwise they could not have been any more different. Why was that so important? Well, that wasn't difficult to answer; obviously with every other man she met, the first impression she got from him were his thoughts about her, which even if they did not disgust her outright, they scared her enough to destroy any inclination to associate with him any further. One might say she learned way too much and too soon about the men she encountered to like them. If she were a normal person this wouldn't happen; she'd meet a boy, get interested in him, and then as she got to know him she would decide whether she liked him or not. It was therefore a fair assumption that the reason she had become interested in Harima-san and Hirayama-kun was that they made her feel like a normal girl. A girl who could fall in love just like everyone else and wouldn't have to spend the rest of her life scared to death of entering a relationship.

But even if she could forget about her unusual ability around them, it didn't mean it wasn't still there. And if perchance she became intimately involved with either of them, or anyone else for that matter, eventually she would have to come clean about it. She couldn't possibly keep something so important a secret from her partner for the rest of her life; for one thing, it wouldn't be fair to him. However, she couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of reaction such a revelation would evoke. Any average boy would probably freak out at the notion that his girlfriend would be able to read even his innermost thoughts like an open book. But those two weren't exactly average, and their reaction probably wouldn't be so typical either. What would it be, though?

Harima-san…she had no idea how he would react to such a discovery. He'd never hate her for it, of that she was certain; but other than that she had no clue how he would handle it. Well, for starters she wasn't sure at all whether he would fully understand this ability of hers even if she did tell him about it. Yakumo held Harima's character in the highest regard, but she could not deny that he was a rather simple-minded person. She didn't think any less of him because of this, but she realized that comprehending exactly what her ability meant for her and those around her might be beyond him. He'd probably just keep thinking of her as a good, honest, hardworking girl like she knew he did now; which wasn't bad, of course, but in that case he would never find out about her hidden feelings and fears that nobody knew about. She would never be able to share with him those sides of hers she had never shared with anyone else.

On the other hand, Hirayama-kun was a different kind of mystery. He seemed to have at least an inkling that there was more to Yakumo than met the eye, that much she was convinced of, especially after what had happened during the sports festival. But he kept his cards very close; afterwards he had treated her exactly like before and never alluded to her special ability even once. If he was thinking about it, she had no way of knowing; not only had she absolutely no access to his thoughts, but also his countenance never gave anything away. Unlike Harima-san who always let his thoughts and feelings out in the open, it was impossible for her to even guess what Hirayama-kun was thinking. But there was one thing she did know: Hirayama-kun was fully capable of comprehending her ability and its implications. The way he had helped her make use of it at the horse-riding battle was sufficient evidence; even if he had claimed to consider it an 'intuition' it was plain that he understood that Yakumo could predict their opponents' moves with great accuracy, down to the last detail. Yakumo still had no idea how he had found out about this, but if he had figured as much on his own he probably wouldn't even bat an eyelash if she happened to tell him all the particulars. Which was the second thing that puzzled her about him.

How come he could be so calm after finding out such an extraordinary thing about her, Yakumo had often wondered since the sports festival. Even considering he was generally an impassive person who never overreacted about anything, this lack of response was beyond weird. It almost seemed as if this wasn't the first time he had come across such a phenomenon…but again, this was just a feeling she got, there was no way she could tell for sure if that was the case. Anyhow, for some reason she believed that if she were to tell him about her ability he would not freak out or run away from her, even if she didn't tell him that she was unable to read his thoughts in particular. Again, she had drawn that conclusion judging from his reaction at the sports festival. Even if he knew about her 'intuition' beforehand, when she had admitted to it he had taken the news way too calmly, and far from worrying about what Yakumo might know about him he had focused solely on helping her out. She ought to appreciate that at least; anyone else in his place would have been most concerned about what secrets of his had been revealed, but Hirayama-kun didn't seem to care about that one bit, neither when he found out nor afterwards. He hadn't avoided her in any way, nor did he seem to be on his guard around her; his attitude towards her hadn't changed at all. It was frustrating not knowing what he thought of her, but if he didn't shy away from her after finding out such a thing about her, it would be fair to assume this wasn't enough to make him think badly of her.

Meanwhile the two boys continued their conversation, oblivious to Yakumo's silent observation. "What about you, how come you started taking guitar classes in the first place?" Harima asked. "Well, Ooji-san wanted to, and I always went along for the ride with everything he did – I guess I still do," Hirayama-kun said with a slightly sheepish smile; as always, he seemed a lot more like an ordinary boy when he talked about his friend. "But after a while, I really got into it; Ooji-san quit after a few years when he became more interested in drawing, but I carried on studying and practicing on my own. I'm even thinking of taking up music professionally; it's the one thing I'll never get tired of doing for the rest of my life."

"If it makes you happy, you should go for it," Harima said. "It doesn't matter why you started it in the first place…I, too, started drawing for my own reasons, and never thought I'd make a career out of it; but as it turned out drawing manga is something I want to keep doing no matter what."

Yakumo was still listening to their talk, inwardly glad they got along so well with each other. It occurred to her that although Hirayama-kun was normally taciturn and a bit of an enigma to most people he seemed quite willing to talk about himself to Harima-san. Admittedly Harima-san was really gifted in making people open up to him, although he probably had no idea of it; he was always so honest and straightforward that one could not help being honest in turn with him. But maybe Hirayama-kun wasn't that averse to talking about himself after all. He might not be very talkative on his own, but if she just asked him he might tell her what she wanted to know; it could be that simple. And if he could be honest with her…then she might be able to be honest with him as well. Yakumo determined to test that theory at the first opportunity and, having made her decision, she turned her attention back to the song list.

Sarah had already picked out a few songs both of them liked singing, and after consulting with her a bit they showed them to the other two. Hirayama-kun nodded approvingly and then said, "Okay, let's play them on the karaoke at first, and then we'll try them out with the guitar. It's a pity we can't have the piano too but that will have to wait until the proper rehearsals." Yakumo and Sarah took the microphones – Sarah would be doing the back vocals as well as the piano – and started singing.

They sang beautifully, and the two boys listened to them with sincere admiration. When they were done Yakumo asked apprehensively, "S-so…what do you think?"

"Just awesome," Harima said with true enthusiasm. "You were amazing, both of you." "Indeed," seconded Hirayama-kun, and both girls blushed with embarrassment. "Now let's give them a try with the guitar."

"Hirayama-kun, have you ever played these songs before?" Sarah asked. "No, but I more or less figured out the melody while you were singing," Hirayama-kun said. "Of course I'll need to practice more, but I think it should go like this…" and he started playing.

His playing was unlike any music Yakumo had ever heard before; so vibrant and full of feeling, it could move someone to tears just by hearing it. Almost unconsciously she brought the microphone to her mouth and started singing again, with Sarah following shortly afterwards. It was as though the song had gained a whole new life with that music; it was unbelievable. She had known a long time ago that despite his poker face Hirayama-kun was not emotionless; that much was obvious from his attachment to Karasuma-kun and his admiration for her sister. But now she realized that his emotions ran way deeper than she had thought; nobody would be able to play like this without harboring real, deep, strong feelings in their heart. Forgetting herself, she just kept singing one song after another and only managed to pull herself from her dream world when the music stopped.

"That was…oh man, I have no words for it," Harima said after a few moments of silence; he had been listening to them all the while totally entranced, and even now he was close to tears; Yakumo had never seen him quite so moved. "You should totally become a pro, Hirayama; if you let such talent go to waste I'll never forgive you for it. You too, Imouto-san; believe it or not, right now you sang even better than before. You really put your heart into it."

She hadn't even realized it, but Harima was right; while listening to Hirayama-kun's playing she had truly let herself go and sung straight from the heart, without caring about anything else. It was such a liberating feeling; up till then she was still worried whether she'd be able to perform with an entire audience watching her, but now she knew that as long as she could hear that guitar nothing else would matter to her.

Then they decided on the songs they would play and soon afterwards they left for home, very pleased with their day's work. They separated from Hirayama-kun at the station and returned home to a belated dinner. After dinner, Sarah went to take her bath and Yakumo with Harima sat down in the living-room with two cups of tea. Yakumo glanced furtively at Harima, who was drinking his tea in silence; she wanted to ask him about what he had said to Hirayama-kun this afternoon, but she hesitated because she was still reluctant to mention her sister to him. But lately he seemed less miserable about it, and she couldn't avoid the subject forever; perhaps now would be a good time to start talking about it with him again. "Harima-san…may I ask you a question?"

"Sure, what is it?" "Those things you were telling Hirayama-kun this afternoon…about how you lived on the streets and all that…you never told Nee-san about it, right?"

"No, I didn't," Harima said with a serious face. "Why not?" Yakumo asked again, and Harima let out a sigh. "Imouto-san…I don't think I've ever told you about how I met your sister, have I?"

As expected, Yakumo shook her head; Harima had never talked to her about that, in fact he had never told anyone about it except Ojou. But somehow he now felt he could talk about it with a person he was so close to. Remembering it wasn't that painful anymore…and if this girl he cared about so much could learn something useful from his own mistakes then it was worth sharing this with her.

"I met Tsukamoto when I was still living on the streets," he started saying. "I saved her from a thug with a knife, and then she fainted and I brought her to my place. I fell in love with her, but somehow she thought I was a pervert out to assault her and before I could explain anything to her she decked me and ran away."

Yakumo could not help smiling a little as she listened to his narration; she could just see her sister doing those things to poor Harima-san. "Then I decided to chase after her and make her understand my feelings for her," Harima went on. "So I changed my appearance and returned to school to find her. But I kept too many secrets from her, Imouto-san," he said, shaking his head regretfully. "And the secrets led to lies, and the lies led to misunderstandings…and in the end, I didn't even get to tell her how much I loved her. Well, even if I had I'd probably have been shot down anyway…she was head over heels in love with that lucky bastard Karasuma," he carried on, grimacing a little. "But sometimes I think that maybe, if I had been upfront with her from the start…she might have hated me for it at first but maybe she would have looked at me differently afterwards…and in the end, who knows how would things turn out…" He shrugged his shoulders. "No use beating myself up over it now, of course; what's done can't be undone. But take it from someone who has loved and lost, Imouto-san," he said, staring straight into Yakumo's eyes. "No matter how much you love someone, if you can't bring yourself to be honest with them…then it's not going to work out. I want you to remember that; I would hate it more than anything if you found out about it the same way I did."

Yakumo stared back into his eyes thoughtfully; for the first time she fully comprehended just how much Harima's heartbreak had changed his way of thinking. Now he knew his mistakes and he had learnt from them; painful as this experience was, he had become a much better and more mature person for it. In many ways, however, he was still the old Harima-san, the way he cared about her and looked out for her not being the least. Perhaps that was why she couldn't be completely honest with him…or maybe she herself hadn't changed enough just yet. Would a time ever come when she'd be truly able to be herself around a man, she wondered, and if it did, who would that man be?

SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR SR

The following days were full of preparations for the culture festival: rehearsals, setting up shops and stalls, costume fittings, etc. Everyone had lots of things to do, and there was no time for conversation. Yakumo and Sarah were kept very busy, and not just with rehearsals. There were also the preparations for the café to be considered, like deciding on the menu and setup; since both of them held part-time jobs in the service industry and were good cooks too their opinions and advice were highly sought after. On the other hand, Harima did help setting up his class' café, but somehow he mysteriously disappeared whenever maids and maid uniforms were mentioned. As the day for the culture festival drew nearer, Hanai, Tougou and Harry started seeking him out more persistently to get him to try on his maid uniform, but he avoided them with equal persistence, and nobody knew for sure whether he would actually agree to perform this particular duty.

During lunch break on the eve of the culture festival, Satsuki, Miki and Haruna were in the courtyard, looking for a good spot to have lunch. They were chattering excitedly about the festival starting the following day; aside from their class' event, they had heard from Sarah and Haruna's brother about the 'reverse maid and butler café' and they were completely fascinated by that project, in a lot of ways.

"Oh look, it's the senpais over there," Miki said joyously, spotting Akira, Mikoto and Eri having lunch in a corner. "Come on, let's go join them!" she urged the other two eagerly.

The three second-year girls greeted their senpais cheerfully and sat down with them. "We were just saying how we look forward to visiting your classes during the culture festival," Satsuki said. "That reverse maid and butler café was such an interesting idea!"

Their senpais however didn't seem to share their enthusiasm. "You think so, do you?" Mikoto asked in a rather gloomy manner.

"But of course! I can't wait to see it!" Miki said with equal excitement. "You'll be soooo cool dressed as butlers, senpais! Especially you, Sawachika-senpai," she said, turning to Eri. "Last year when you played the prince I almost fell in love with you! And besides, the whole thing will be really grand, I'm sure; your Onii-chan is giving it everything he's got, right Haruna?"

"Oh, he's putting in an effort all right," said Haruna, who was decidedly less enthusiastic about this than the other two. "He's been talking about nothing but maid dresses these days." Akira, Mikoto and Eri nodded in understanding; they had first-hand experience just how carried away Tougou got over anything he set his mind on.

"Well, I still think it'll be so much fun," Miki said, completely wrapped up in her fantasy. "Hanai-senpai will be so awesome…just like those super cool glasses-wearing maids in anime, right?"

"S-super cool glasses-wearing maid…" Mikoto repeated in a strained voice, as though it was painful for her to even imagine it. "Oh dear, this is wrong on so many levels…" Akira and Eri winced too as their minds were filled with that mental image, and patted their friend's back in sympathy.

"For my part, I wonder what Harima-senpai will look like," said Satsuki. "Is there even such a thing as a delinquent maid?"

"D-delinquent maid…honestly, I can't even imagine it…" mumbled Eri, desperately trying to block the vision that popped into her head. Akira turned towards her asking in turn, "Actually, I was wondering whether Harima will go along with this at all…Yakumo and Sarah said he seemed pretty upset about it, and he keeps running off every time there's talk about the maid uniforms. Did he say anything to you?"

Eri shook her head. "No," she said, "and he didn't seem to want to talk about it either, so I didn't ask him. To be frank, I was wondering what he intends to do about it as well."

As if to answer her question, just then a loud, angry male voice was heard in the distance: "I DON'T CARE IF IT NEEDS ADJUSTMENTS OR WHATEVER! I'M NOT PUTTING THAT THING ON AND THAT'S FINAL, YOU HEAR ME, YOU FREAKS?" At the same time, the girls perceived a cloud of dust headed rapidly in their direction. Moments later, something like a small tornado passed by them, messing up their hair and lifting up their skirts, forcing them to hasten and cover themselves. It was Harima, who was sprinting along the courtyard as if he was running for his very life. Hard at his heels were Hanai and Tougou, the latter holding up a full-length maid dress which fluttered behind him like a banner. "Harima-kun, this is very irresponsible of you!" yelled Hanai, chasing after him determinedly. "The success of the culture festival depends on everyone's efforts!" "I don't give a fuck about that! You're not getting me in drag EVER!" shouted Harima glancing over his shoulder, and redoubled his speed. Stunned beyond words by this extraordinary sight, the girls just kept staring at them as they vanished around the corner of the school building.

"W-well, I think it's safe to assume Harima-senpai isn't very keen on the idea," Haruna said awkwardly. "Are you going to help them catch him, senpais?" she asked.

"Not I," Eri said flatly. "If those guys want to see Hige in a maid outfit so badly, that's their problem. I want no part of this."

Mikoto and Akira nodded in agreement as well. "Besides, it's not like they need our help," added Akira. "Knowing those two, they'll get Harima in that maid dress if it's the last thing they do."

The younger girls were quite unable to counter this argument. They wanted to speculate further about how this whole affair was going to end up, but just then the bell sounded and, after bidding their senpais farewell, they hastened to return to their classroom.

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Harima leaned against the corridor wall, panting heavily. For the whole day he had been running around school, trying to get away from Hanai, Tougou and Harry who seemed determined to catch him and have him try that maid dress on for fitting. He had even skipped classes – something he hadn't done at all this year – in order to give them the slip, but those three just wouldn't give up, they were hunting him down like bloodhounds. He had tried to get to the outer wall and make his escape from there, but they had cut him off and forced him to flee to the school building, where he had been running from them for at least two hours now, in a vain attempt to lose them.

Right now he was in a part of the school building he hadn't frequented for quite some time – the wing of the second-years' classrooms. It was getting late and the lessons were already over, but the place was still rather crowded because the preparations for the festival starting the following day were still in full swing, and a good many students would stay in school until late at night. Glancing furtively to his left and right to see if there was any sign of his pursuers, he tiptoed cautiously along the corridor in an attempt to make it to a side entrance he had used a lot of times during his delinquent days, especially when he wanted to shake off his scary cousin Osakabe-sensei. But just as he was making a turn for another corridor that would bring him there, Hanai's voice resounded from the direction of the very exit he was going for: "Aha! There he is!" "Onward, comrades! We shall capture our elusive prey yet!" Tougou clamored in response, and once again Harima was cut off from the exit and was forced to turn back and run in the opposite direction, towards the second-years' classrooms.

Just as he was dashing alongside the classrooms, suddenly a sliding door opened and Inaba Miki stepped out directly in front of him; he barely had time to stop before he knocked her over. "Harima-senpai?" she asked, surprised. "What's wrong?"

"Th…that four-eyes and the other two idiots…they're out to make me into a woman!" Harima said whilst gasping for breath. Miki gave an amused chuckle; it was really funny how far Harima-senpai was willing to go to avoid wearing a maid dress. Then an idea came to her and she said to him, "I understand. Come with me, I'll help you hide." Grabbing him by the hand, she led the way through various corridors further into the school building. Harima followed her unquestioningly; he would gladly venture inside an active volcano barefoot if it meant escaping those three and the humiliation they had in store for him. After a while of fast walking, Miki stopped in front of another room; there could be heard voices coming from inside. "In here," she said.

It was one of the music rooms, currently occupied by Yakumo, Sarah and Hirayama-kun who were doing a last rehearsal of their songs before the festival. Satsuki and Haruna were also there, busily putting together some decorations for the café. The other three were taking a short break from playing at the moment; Sarah and Hirayama-kun were double-checking the amplifier and the keyboard Sarah would use in place of a piano, while Yakumo was pouring some juice for all of them.

"Hey everyone," Miki said cheerfully. "I've brought a guest." "Harima-san? What on earth are you doing here?" Yakumo said in astonishment. "Harima-senpai is a hunted man, Yakumo-san," Miki said to the baffled Yakumo. "He's desperately trying to escape Hanai-senpai's evil designs on his manhood. We'll give him a helping hand, won't we now?"

"Miki, don't tell me you want to hide him here?" Haruna asked. "Oh, just for a little while until the senpais give up; can't we?" Miki asked pleadingly. Satsuki and Haruna exchanged a look and sighed in unison. "I guess it can't be helped," Satsuki said. "Harima-senpai, there's a locker over there; if you hear the senpais coming get in quick, okay?"

Harima nodded in relief and took position near the aforementioned locker, ready to jump inside at a moment's notice. The others resumed what they were doing; there were still a lot of things to be done and time was of the essence. Yakumo handed out the juices and then rejoined her band members who were still fussing over the instruments. "Is everything all right?" she asked.

"Yes, Hirayama-kun was just fine-tuning the amplifier," Sarah said. "Lucky for us he knows his way around musical instruments, isn't that right, Yakumo?" "I…I suppose so…" Yakumo said awkwardly, then, thinking to make a bit of conversation she turned to him and asked, "Then…are you really aiming to become a musician in the future, Hirayama-kun? Personally I still find performing in public difficult…but you certainly play well enough."

"Oh, I wasn't thinking of becoming a performer," Hirayama-kun said, still bent over the amplifier. "I do love music but I believe that too much public exposure would be rather trying for me. What I really want to become is a composer."

"Oh…you mean like writing music for movies and commercials?" Yakumo asked, interested. Somehow talking with him like this wasn't nearly as hard as she thought it would be; it seemed that if asked, Hirayama-kun wasn't at all averse to answering her questions. "Things like that, yes," he said. "I…was never any good at expressing myself, but writing music always helped me give an outlet to my feelings. So if I could make a living out of it too it would be killing two birds with one stone, right?"

"That…sounds logical, I guess," Yakumo said. "I wish I could find something to put my feelings into as well." Although she was good at just about everything she did, for some reason she hadn't yet come across anything she found really fulfilling.

"Maybe you already have," Hirayama-kun said. "Tsukamoto nee-sama always said that she enjoyed your lunches so much because she could taste your love for her in them."

"Really…Nee-san said that…" Yakumo said, embarrassed, while Sarah next to her laughed. "Well, Tsukamoto-senpai always did love your food, Yakumo," she said. "Personally I think that whatever you decide to do will be fine as long as you think of those who receive your care while doing it."

"I think so too," Hirayama-kun said seriously. "You are good at taking care of others, Tsukamoto-san…maybe this is your true calling." Yakumo looked down and smiled to herself; somehow…taking care of others sounded fitting to her.

"But you'll still cook for us when we come visiting, right?" Miki's voice sounded near them. The others looked at her and started laughing, amused by her expectant look. From his seat near the locker, Harima watched the scene silently, with a satisfied smile on his face. When he had first met her, Imouto-san was almost as much of a loner as he was, even with her beloved sister by her side. She was admired from afar, but there was no one really close to her. But since then she had changed a lot, slowly but surely; she had made a best friend, and gotten closer to her classmates; she could even enjoy herself around them. Harima was convinced that from now on things would only get better for her. Imouto-san would never be alone again, and knowing this made him really happy.

Just as he was thinking about this, hurried footsteps sounded along the corridor, heading towards them. "The senpais!" Satsuki said in alarm, and Harima slipped inside the locker faster than thought. Two seconds later, the classroom door burst open.

"Found you, deserter – " Tougou started saying, popping his pony-tailed head in the doorway, then seeing that Harima was nowhere in sight he cut himself short. "Pardon me, fair maidens," he said gallantly to the group inside – Hirayama-kun apparently didn't register on his radar at all. "You haven't seen Harima-kun anywhere, have you?"

Everyone shook their heads negatively, and Hanai in turn popped his head into the classroom, full of his customary righteous indignation. "Tougou-kun! How dare you insinuate that the pure Yakumo-kun is sheltering that miscreant!" he admonished his friend. Inside the locker, Harima was having a really hard time restraining himself from laughing; if it weren't for the danger of being forced to wear a maid dress this whole situation would be seriously funny. The others outside felt the same; aside from the embarrassed Yakumo and the ever-expressionless Hirayama-kun everyone else was desperately trying to keep a serious face until the hunting party left.

"Well then, Yakumo-kun, we shouldn't detain you any longer," Hanai said to his crush, blushing. "I'm looking forward to your performance tomorrow!" Even though he said that, he made no sign of leaving until Tougou dragged him out forcefully. "Come along now, Hanai-kun," he said in his usual pompous manner. "As a man, I understand your feelings, but duty goes before romance!"

When the door closed behind them and their footsteps died away Harima emerged from his hiding place. "Phew, that was close," he said, relieved. "That four-eyes is so damn persistent…" "He is, isn't he?" agreed Miki. "Harima-senpai, you should stick around a bit longer; since they've already searched here they won't come again, and maybe after a while they'll move the search somewhere else and you'll have a chance to escape."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Harima said and took a seat again. "Well, we should get on with that last rehearsal," Sarah said. "It's getting late." Yakumo and Hirayama-kun nodded and took positions, and the three of them started playing.

It was really breathtaking; Hirayama-kun's guitar sounded just as beautiful as before, and Sarah's keyboard complemented it perfectly. Once again, Yakumo lost herself in the beauty and sentiment of the music and sang without reservations, just happy to let her voice out. Harima and the others listened to them enchanted, and when the performance ended they applauded loudly.

"You got a little emotional there, didn't you, Harima-senpai?" Miki said to him, seeing the look of admiration on his face. "Couldn't help it, I guess," he said, a bit embarrassed to display such mushy feelings. "It was just so great."

"Yeah, it was, but…doesn't it make you feel kind of jealous too?" Miki asked again, still hoping to make him take notice of Yakumo and Hirayama-kun. "I suppose it does, a bit," Harima admitted. "I don't think I'll ever be able to play the guitar so well."

All of a sudden Miki gave him a sharp smack on the head. "Ow! What was that for?" he protested. "You know, Harima-senpai," Miki said, puffing her cheeks in anger rather comically, "I could never figure out why Sawachika-senpai keeps calling you an idiot, but now I'm beginning to understand her." And with that she turned around and walked away from him in a huff, while he shook his head in befuddlement. Women…he just never knew what they were thinking.

It was quite late now, and a lot of students had gone home. It was rather quiet outside; Harima was pretty sure those three had given up, or at least gone somewhere else to search for him. "Well, I'd better get going then," he told Yakumo and the rest. "What about you, are you going to stay any longer?"

"The preparations for the café are still not complete, so we'll have to stay on for a few more hours at least," Sarah said. "But don't worry, Hirayama-kun will walk us home after we're done."

"Oh, good; then I'll be counting on you, Hirayama," Harima said with relief. Normally he would never feel at ease assigning Imouto-san's protection to someone other than himself, but Hirayama had proved to be trustworthy in that matter back at the horse-riding battle. "But give me a call when you're leaving school, okay?" he added, turning to the two girls. "I'll come meet you on the way back, as long as I manage to get away from those morons."

The two girls nodded obediently and Harima slipped out of the classroom again, trying to make as little noise as possible. Cautiously he moved from corridor to corridor, checking around every corner, until he made it to the side entrance he was aiming for before. Breathing a sigh of relief, he slipped quietly outside, took one step, then another…when suddenly two pairs of strong hands gripped both his arms from behind. It was Hanai and Harry, holding him in a vise grip not even he could escape from. "Well, well," Harry said with an amused smile. "If it isn't our little runaway maid."

"Who the hell's your maid, you stupid…" Harima started yelling indignantly, but he swallowed his tongue in fear as he saw Tougou approaching, waving a maid uniform in front of him in a very ominous manner. "Now then, Harima-kun," Tougou said with a leer. "You've caused us enough trouble already, so just come along like a good boy. You're awfully late for your uniform fitting, you know…?" "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Harima's wail of desperation resounded all over the school as his three captors dragged him off to his crossdressing doom.

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The next day, Mikoto and Eri came to school early; they had the first shift in their class' café, together with Kido Madoka and Mihara Kozue. Each shift consisted of four boys and four girls. Madoka and Kozue went straight to the girls' locker rooms to change into their butler uniforms, but Mikoto and Eri decided to pop by the classroom and check things out first. They set off for the classroom together but on their way a first-year girl stopped them to ask a question, and Mikoto lingered behind to help her. Too impatient to wait, Eri headed for the classroom alone, wondering what she would find there. She had heard from Akira about Hige's capture yesterday, and that Hanai and the others had made him stay in school the whole night and kept him under guard to make sure he would stay in his uniform until the very end. They were really going too far, Eri thought, but then those three always went too far. Well, now that they had forced him into that dress he would probably do his job properly, although Eri seriously doubted he would be of much use towards attracting customers.

"Welcome home, Mast – oh, it's you." A gruff and decidedly displeased voice greeted Eri as she stepped inside the classroom. Holding her breath she looked up, and was met by the sight of Harima wearing a full-length maid dress, a maid's frilly headdress in place of his customary headband and a very, _very_ deep scowl on his face.

"Don't you dare laugh." Eri clapped both hands to her mouth, desperately trying to contain the laughter already bubbling out of her. As soon as she felt she could trust herself to speak without bursting out laughing, she uncovered her mouth and said, her voice still shaking with restrained laughter, "You…um, you look…"

"Ridiculous," snapped Harima. "Don't even bother, Ojou; I've seen what I look like, and it's worse than that freakish male maid of yours." Eri found herself unable to refute his words; perhaps it was because she was used to seeing Masaru in a maid outfit, but even he looked better than Hige in this getup. She was still struggling to find something to say that wouldn't make him feel any worse than he already did, when fortunately the door opened and Mikoto came in. Just like Eri, she nearly doubled up with laughter, then catching Harima's withering look she tried her best to restrain herself. "L…looking good there, Harima," she said bracingly, although she didn't sound at all convincing. "I see you went for the Victorian maid look."

"That bastard Tougou wanted to force the one with the mini-skirt and cat ears on me, but I told him to shove it up his…" He coughed, checking himself. "Well, at least it'll be four-eyes showing off his legs and not me."

Mikoto's face suddenly turned pale. "Y…you mean…that right now Hanai is wearing a maid dress with a mini-skirt and _cat ears_?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"What, didn't you guys know?" Harima said, surprised. "I thought you'd have heard from Takano by now. A while ago she was saying something about 'promoting the café' and taking a whole bunch of pictures of him with her cell phone. I was sure she'd have sent you one at least."

Right on cue, Mikoto's cell phone beeped and she flipped it open with trembling hands, dreading to see what it contained. When she saw the text message from Akira and the attached picture, her face went from pale to green and she let out a painful moan. Eri put her arm around her friend's back and patted her compassionately. "There, there," she said. "Believe me, I know exactly how you feel."

"What's wrong with Suou?" Harima asked, kind of worried. "Never mind, Hige," sighed Eri. "It's a girl thing." Then she cast a look around the empty classroom, in an attempt to change the subject. "I see we don't have any customers in," she remarked coldly, directing an accusing glance at Harima.

"Don't tell me you were actually expecting to get customers with _this_ lineup," he countered sharply, pointing at the other male members of the shift. Eri was forced to admit he had a point; even without counting his glare that would probably scare away any customer, the rest of the current 'maids' weren't much better. First there was Yoshidayama Jirou, a short wannabe delinquent with long bleached blond hair he normally spiked up with tons of gel. Today however he had abandoned his spiky hairstyle and had tied his hair in two pigtails instead, which made him look a bit like a short and creepy version of Eri's. Then there was Nishimoto Ganji, a fat guy who had earned the nickname 'Buddha' because of his expressionless face, and whose only interest in life was porn. Unfortunately it was highly doubtful there would be any demand for fat expressionless maids today, so he was pretty much useless too. The last member was Nara Kentarou, a meek and diminutive boy who was way too easily intimidated. Out of all of them, he was the only one who actually looked kind of cute in the maid uniform, but he was far too timid to go out and attract customers. Eri sighed deeply; it seemed that once again the girls would have to save the day.

"How's 3-D doing then?" she asked with the air of a general preparing for battle. "They're raking in the customers," Yoshidayama said sullenly. "Just now a bunch of girls passed by, going on and on about how they want to take a picture with Harry in his maid uniform."

"I see," Eri said. "Well, don't worry, now that we're here we'll turn things around. Come on, Mikoto, let's go change."

They went hastily to the girls' changing rooms and shortly afterwards they returned together with Madoka and Kozue. Contrary to the boys, the girls looked really attractive in the butler uniforms, especially Eri with her aristocratic air. Harima made a face as soon as they stepped in and he got a good look at them. "No fair," he told Eri, sulking. "I'm like a goddamned transvestite, but you actually look good in this."

Eri was happy to hear him say that, but she told herself not to get carried away over it. Knowing him, he probably hadn't even realized he had just paid her a compliment. With a laugh, she said, "Well, you always say I don't know how to act girly, so it's only fair that I should make a good man at least."

"We'll be counting on your manly charm then," he said, showing a bit of cheerfulness for the first time today. Eri advanced towards him menacingly and grabbed him by the apron of his dress. "Are you sure this is the right time to mess with me, Hige?" she asked with a rather terrifying smile. "I don't think you can run very fast in that dress." But she wasn't really angry; lately she found it increasingly difficult to get angry with him.

Ever since their reconciliation during the sports festival, the atmosphere around them had changed for the better, although no one of their friends had dared to say as much to either of them. They still bickered, but now it sounded more like friendly scolding and teasing than actual fighting. Moreover, they were gentler with each other, without the harshness of the past, and didn't go out of their way to avoid one another. They still didn't seek each other's company or act like a couple in any way, but every now and again they showed their concern for each other in numerous small ways. When one day Harima had forgotten his textbook, Eri just shared hers with him without so much as calling him an idiot; on another occasion when she was complaining of a headache Harima put his hand on her forehead to see if she had a fever without the slightest hesitation. Everyone expected her to throw him out the window at least, but she just smiled and thanked him; even if she wasn't feeling well, it was a very unusual reaction for her. Without either of them noticing, the distance between them had shrunk more than ever.

"All right then, here's what we're going to do," Eri said, assuming the leading role as a matter of course. "Us girls will go around the school to promote the café; first Mikoto and me, and then you two," she went on, addressing Madoka and Kozue. "When the customers start coming, we'll handle the floor together with Nara-kun – he's the only one who looks like an actual maid. The rest of you will stay in the kitchen and prepare the orders," she said to the rest of the male staff, pointing at the makeshift kitchen in the corner. "Make sure to keep out of sight as much as possible."

Everyone agreed to this plan and Eri with Mikoto went out to attract customers. Madoka, Kozue and Nara stayed on the floor while the other three retreated to the kitchen. For once, Harima was more than happy to obey Ojou's orders; the less he was seen in that ludicrous outfit the better. Soon afterwards, the girls' charm became apparent as the first customers started coming in. When Mikoto and Eri returned a while later, the café was quite full. The girls in the butler uniforms were a big success both with male and female customers, and even Nara was rather popular as a shy maid, although every so often the girls had to protect him from customers who got too touchy-feely with him.

"That bastard, he thinks he's so cute," Yoshidayama said resentfully, glaring at Nara from behind the kitchen curtain. Actually he was jealous of him – he had a bit of a thing for Eri, and he didn't like one bit seeing her help him out on the floor. "We're so much better maids than him, right aniki?" he said, addressing Harima. Yoshidayama thought of himself as Harima's underling who would one day take the number one delinquent spot from him, although Harima himself had never realized any of this; to this day he hadn't even bothered to learn the guy's name properly.

"Yoshida, if you call me a maid one more time I'll shove your head through the wall," Harima said menacingly. "Now get your ass over here and get those coffees ready."

The hours passed quickly and soon the next shift came to relieve them – the butlers this time were Lala, Ichijou and her two friends, while the maid team consisted of Imadori, Asou, Suga and Umezou. As expected, the boys looked none too happy to be dressed as maids; Imadori especially was grumbling non-stop about how he'd rather work in Mikoto's shift instead. Once or twice he even tried to run away, but every time Lala caught him and brought him back after punishing him appropriately; everyone foresaw that he'd be one really beat-up maid by the end of his shift.

As soon as he was off duty Harima went to change into his school uniform – he couldn't get out of that maid dress fast enough. When he was done, he noticed there was a text from Akira on his cell phone, asking him to meet them out in the courtyard. "What are those girls up to now…" he mumbled, but he went anyway; by now he had come to realize that Takano wasn't the kind of person to be taken lightly.

The three girls were strolling along the stalls eating candied apples and takoyaki when he found them. Seeing them munching away reminded him that he hadn't had anything to eat since the day before. He bought a couple of okonomiyaki from a stall and then went over to meet them. "What's up?"

"Oh, there you are," Akira said. "We were just wondering whether you had plans to go see Yakumo and Sarah perform today."

"Actually yes, I am," he said immediately. "I mean, I've promised them and everything; besides, I think they'll be really good. Are you going too?" He didn't say he had already heard them sing; if the girls were planning to go see their performance he didn't want to spoil it by telling them how good they really were.

"And do you have a reservation?" Akira asked without answering his question. "R-reservation?" Harima asked, astonished. "Do I need one?"

"Indeed you do," Akira said with a superior expression on her face. "There's such a demand to see their performance that it'll be impossible to enter the café during their shift without a reservation."

"I…hadn't thought of that," Harima said, dismayed. Yakumo and Sarah had said they would let him in anyway, but he didn't want it to seem like he was receiving special treatment from them.

"I thought as much," Akira said with the same smug look. "Well, luckily for you I've already reserved a table of four. Since there's an empty seat, you can come with us if you like."

"Oh, thanks a bunch," he said relieved, totally missing the conspiratorial look Mikoto and Akira exchanged. Eri on the other hand saw it, but she was used to her friends pulling such tricks by now…and besides she was always glad of an opportunity to spend some time with him. Since Mikoto and Akira would be with them, no one would read too much into it anyway.

Akira's reservation wasn't due for another two hours, so until that time the four of them just wandered around the festival, taking in the sights and occasionally buying a snack or a trinket that caught the girls' eye. When they passed by 3-D's café, Harima was surprised to see Hanai, Tougou and Harry still outside in their maid outfits, zealously promoting their café. "What – isn't those guys' shift over yet?" Harima asked, surprised; he knew that they had started working about the same time as him.

"Yes, it ended some time ago, but when I told them this morning how much the café's success depends on their promotion, they graciously volunteered to stay overtime and help out," Akira said, impassive as ever. "Very conscientious of them, don't you think?"

"You just wanted to make them stay dressed as maids for the whole day, didn't you?" Eri whispered to her friend. "Geez, Akira, you can be really mean when you want to…"

"Well, if I'm stuck in 3-D I might as well make the most of it," Akira said discreetly. "But enough of this; let's get a move on before Mikoto gets really depressed."

When they finished going around the festival it was almost time for their reservation, so they made their way towards class 2-D's live music café. Just like Akira had said, there was a huge line of people waiting to go inside, and the students at the entrance were extremely busy checking the reservation slips, letting customers in and showing them to their tables.

Akira showed her reservation slip and Satsuki who was on duty at the entrance smiled broadly at them. "Right this way, senpais," she said. "I'll get you a good table." She let them in and showed them to a small table near the makeshift stage where right now stood only the instruments; there was a break between bands at the moment. The café was just as packed inside; it was tastefully decorated and the drinks and snacks served looked nice too, but it was evident that no one of the customers had come for that.

"Wow, that's quite a turnout you've got here," Mikoto told Satsuki, genuinely impressed. "I guess I hadn't realized until now just how popular Yakumo is."

"Yes, it was a great success," Satsuki said, obviously pleased. "Yakumo-san and the others even had to do an extra shift today; there was just so much demand. Well then, senpais, I have to get back to my post. Someone will come to take your order soon. Have fun!"

The four of them sat down and gave their orders to a student serving as waiter and then the three girls started chatting as they waited for the performance to begin. Harima on the other hand didn't join in the conversation and just sipped his coffee silently looking around. Eri noticed that he seemed rather exhausted; it made sense, he hadn't got any sleep last night and still had worked a full shift today. "Are you tired?" she asked him. "I had you work in the kitchen all day today; it must have been hard on you."

"Nah, I'm glad you did; it was way better than being seen in public dressed like that," he said. "Actually it was running around all day yesterday that got me tired the most. If I had known four-eyes would catch me in the end I would have saved my strength at least."

"Well, you should know by now that Hanai-kun never gives up," Eri remarked. "Hmph, they would never have caught me if they hadn't pulled that sneak attack," Harima said, annoyed. "They were just playing dirty."

Eri put a hand in front of her mouth to hide her smile; she found it amusing how he didn't want to admit defeat even now. It wasn't like she didn't understand him though; she herself wasn't all that different in that regard. But before she could say anything in response, Yakumo and her band got up on stage and the entire café fell silent.

Since they had already played two shifts before that one they had pretty much got the hang of it. Nevertheless, normally Yakumo would be way too embarrassed to sing before such a large audience, but Hirayama-kun's music worked wonders on her state of mind; nothing, not even the thoughts of the numerous males in the room could distract her from her singing, something she had never thought possible. For the first time in her life she felt truly at peace with herself and the world; and this elated feeling was clearly reflected in her voice as she sang one song after another. During the entire performance, which lasted about an hour, not one sound was heard from the audience; everyone had stopped drinking, chatting or whatever they were doing and listened in awe; many had taken cameras and cell phones out and were recording the whole thing. Although Harima had already heard them twice before, he still listened enraptured; he just couldn't get enough of this. Eri and Mikoto were practically teary-eyed, and even Akira's hands holding her digital camera were shaking. When the music ended and the band bowed to the audience, everyone got up and gave them a standing ovation; and after they had left, for a long while hardly anyone talked, as if talking would disperse the magic.

"That…was so wonderful…" Eri said eventually, her voice choked with emotion. "I had no idea Yakumo could sing so beautifully. I mean, I had heard her last year when we went to karaoke, but tonight…she was infinitely better than back then."

"Yes, it was incredible," Mikoto agreed. "Sarah and Hirayama-kun too…their playing was first class. I'm so glad I got to hear something so amazing this year…I will never forget it."

"I'll be sure to send you guys the video," promised Akira. "That way you can listen to it as many times as you want."

"Yes, please!" the two girls said at once. They kept talking about it excitedly during the rest of their stay there. When it was time for the next band's performance and they got up to leave, their hearts felt light and at the same time full; it was as though for a short while all their worries had been wiped clean.

They got out to the courtyard again and Harima stretched himself, obviously tired – the last two days had done a real number on him. "What are you going to do now?" Eri asked, lingering for a bit behind with him. "Going to the after party?"

"I don't think I'm up for it," he replied. "I'd much rather find a place to take a nap until it's time to go home."

"Well, in that case take care where you fall asleep," Eri said jokingly. "Otherwise you may wind up playing the sleeping princess again." Last year she had been shocked beyond words during her class' play, when she had seen Hige lying in place of the princess she was supposed to awaken with a kiss. But after all those things that had happened between them since then, it now seemed downright hilarious when she thought back on it.

"Yeah, wouldn't want to get strung up again for taking a nap in the wrong place, now would I?" he said, chuckling as well. Funny how things that seemed so earth-shattering to him at the time now were simply…laughable. Last year all he cared about was his love for Tenma, and he was positive that there was nothing on his mind besides that; but apparently even without realizing it he had made some nice memories that would stay with him in the years to come. And he was thankful for that; it was good to know that this love hadn't left him just with pain, but also with things he would cherish for the rest of his life.

Eri looked at the slight smile on his face and for some reason felt happy as well – it was a brand new sensation, being happy just because he was happy. "Hige…" she said, "…this year's festival…was fun too, wasn't it?"

He looked down at her for a second. "Well, I didn't really like being dressed as a maid…but yeah, I made some good memories," he said. "And that's what festivals are all about…so I suppose it was worth it."


	7. Chapter 7 Weekend at Home

**Chapter 7 – Weekend at Home**

"I'm sorry, Eri!" Mikoto was saying contritely, bowing again and again in front of her friend. "I'm so very sorry, I promise I'll make it up to you!"

"Mikoto…I'm not mad at you or anything," Eri said, clearly distressed. "I just don't know what to do now, that's all."

This was the scene Harima happened upon as he was returning to class, shortly before the end of lunch break. A bit curious, he walked over to his desk next to the two girls and asked,

"Hey you two, what's going on? What are you making so much noise for?"

"Oh, Hige…I didn't see you come in…" Eri said, kind of embarrassed to have been overheard. Well, it wasn't anything to be ashamed of anyway. After a brief hesitation she started explaining to him, "It's no big deal really, just…well…you see, I had made plans with Mikoto to spend the weekend at her house. I even brought my stuff with me so that we could go to her place directly after school today…but…"

"…But I got a call from my father about half an hour ago," Mikoto picked up the story. "He wanted to tell me that my great-aunt Keiko passed away last night."

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that," Harima said. "But what does that have to do with your plans?"

"You see, Aunt Keiko had taken good care of my dad when he was little and he was always very fond of her," Mikoto explained. "So he wants the whole family to attend the wake no matter what. Aunt Keiko lived in Osaka, so in order to be there on time, we're going to catch the bullet train as soon as I finish school today."

"Oh, I see," Harima said. Then, turning to Eri, he said with a hint of reproach, "But really, there's no need to make such a fuss about this, Ojou. You can always go to Suou's place on another weekend."

"Idiot, that's not what I'm worried about," Eri said irritably. "The thing is, since I was going to be away for the weekend, Nakamura took the opportunity to go off on some business of my father's, and he took Masaru with him too. And since no one was going to be at home, the mansion was locked down. Only Nakamura has the security codes, and he's supposed to return on Monday morning."

"So call him and tell him to get back and let you in," Harima said. "I tried that just now, but his phone won't connect. I'm not sure, but I think the errand my father sent him on was out of the country," Eri said. "Even if I do get through to him, I don't think he can return soon, and besides I don't want to upset my father's plans; this thing he needed Nakamura for sounded really important."

"So let me get this straight, Ojou…you're saying that you are _homeless_ for this weekend, is that it?" Harima said in an amused tone. He knew it wasn't all that decent to make a joke out of this, but the idea of Ojou being homeless somehow sounded strangely comical.

"Ha-ha, very funny," Eri said sarcastically. "This may be just a joke to you, but for me it's a serious problem."

"Oh come on, surely we'll figure something out," Mikoto said anxiously. "Look, why don't you come stay at my place anyway? We won't be there of course, but there are the workers staying in the house, so you won't be all alone."

"Mikoto, I can't stay in the same house with a bunch of men I've never even met before!" Eri said, shocked. She sighed in frustration. "And Akira had to be away this particular weekend for her part-time job too…talk about rotten luck. Oh well, I suppose I'll just use my credit card and go to a hotel or something."

"But the hotel area is downtown…isn't it dangerous for a girl to go there alone?" Mikoto said, worried. "Well it beats sleeping on the street! I don't have any other choice, do I?"

"Sure you do," Harima said calmly. "You can come crash at my place."

Mikoto's eyes instantly lit up at this unforeseen suggestion, but Eri wasn't nearly as enthusiastic. "What are you saying?" she said, annoyed. "First off, it's not even _your_ place, it's Yakumo's. Shouldn't you at least check with her before you bring me over out of the blue?"

"Oh, I'm sure Yakumo won't mind…" Mikoto started saying, but Harima cut her short. "What are you going on about, Ojou?" he asked, somewhat surprised. "Imouto-san and Sarah-chan left for Kyoto yesterday, and they won't be back until Monday evening."

"Oh, that's right – the field trip of the second-years!" Mikoto said eagerly. "I thought the school was rather quiet this morning. Well, if that's the case, everything should be fine, right?" she asked, turning to her friend excitedly.

But Eri was not at all excited; in fact, quite the opposite. "Wait a minute…" she said nervously, "does this mean that…it's going to be just you and me in the house?"

"Well, since technically we are engaged and everything, I don't think anyone will take it the wrong way," Harima said with the same calmness. _That is so not the problem here! Geez, Hige, how slow can you get?_ Eri thought, flustered to the point of distraction; what on earth she was going to do all alone in the same house as him for two and a half days? Even if they had become friends again, up till then they had never been alone together for more than a few hours straight, and besides, this sort of ambiguous situation…it was a recipe for disaster! Without noticing her emotional turmoil, Harima went on to say, "I'm warning you though, you'll probably get bored to death. I've got a deadline coming up on Sunday, and I'll most likely spend the whole weekend working."

"Oh – no, I…I don't mind that," she said. Actually she was relieved to hear it; if he was going to be busy most of the time then they wouldn't need to find something to do to pass the time together. Of course it would be kind of lonely, but since she would've spent the weekend alone anyway it wasn't such a big deal. And it would be admittedly safer for her to stay in a house than wander to the hotel area on her own. It was winter now and the days were short, and the thought of going downtown in the cold night to find a hotel wasn't all that appealing.

Seeing that she was wavering, Mikoto decided to give her a push in the right direction. "If you're fine with that, then it's settled," she said hurriedly before Eri changed her mind again. "Thanks for the help, Harima; take good care of Eri now, okay?" He nodded affirmatively and before Eri had the chance to say anything further the bell sounded and the conversation ended there. During the rest of the lessons she was so agitated she hardly paid any attention in class; this situation she was caught up in all of a sudden was so unexpected she didn't know whether to feel good or bad about it.

When classes ended, Eri gathered her things and went over to Harima, who was waiting for her by the classroom door. She didn't have too much luggage; just her school bag and a light sack containing the clothes she'd be wearing at Mikoto's for the weekend. She kind of regretted now that she hadn't picked out anything cuter to wear, but how was she to know things would turn out like this? Oh well, Hige wasn't the type to notice clothes and stuff anyway. When she walked up to him, without a word he took the sack from her and hung it on his shoulder and then the two of them set off for the house.

"Do you mind if we stop by the supermarket first?" Harima asked. "There're some things I need to buy." "No, that's fine by me," Eri said, "but won't that be too much to carry?" "Don't worry, I'm good," he said and took a turn into a side street leading to the local supermarket.

"So, what do you need to buy?" she asked him in turn. "Dinner ingredients mostly," he replied. "You do plan on eating this weekend, don't you? And since I'll have to work afterwards I'd rather not go out a second time."

"Oh that's right, we have to make dinner, don't we," Eri said. Maybe this was a good chance to show him her girly side, she thought. "If – if you like, I could make you some curry tonight," she said timidly.

There was a long, awkward pause, and then he said, "…No thanks. I don't want to die of food poisoning just yet."

Eri flushed angrily and tried to whack him with her school bag, but he dodged it. Lately he was getting pretty good at dodging her attacks – or maybe she didn't put as much spirit into them as before. "How dare you!" she cried out. "I'll have you know Akira taught me how to make curry last year!"

This bold statement left Harima rather unimpressed. "Uh-huh," he said in an evidently disbelieving tone. "And how many times have you made it since then?"

"…Erm…none?" Eri said in a small voice; truth be told, she didn't really have the confidence she'd be able to get the same result again on her own. "But, hey, I made those onigiri you ate at last year's culture festival, didn't I?" she persisted, determined not to admit defeat so easily. "You even said they were good!"

Harima winced as he recalled the taste of those misshapen onigiri, which had made him feel as though a bomb had gone off in his stomach. At the time he had expressed a favorable opinion because he believed he was trying his beloved Tenma-chan's cooking – until he ate the real thing a few minutes later, which was like an _atomic_ bomb going off in his stomach. Truly, it was a testament to his constitution that he had survived after eating both Tenma's and Ojou's cooking at once.

"I only said that because I thought they were Tsukamoto's," he told Eri bluntly. Then as an afterthought he added, "…But if it's any consolation, yours were slightly less lethal than hers."

"…Boy, does that make me feel better," Eri said drily, giving him a sour look. "And anyway, if I don't do the cooking, who will?"

"Me of course, do you see anyone else here?" Eri stopped in her tracks and looked at him, startled. "You? I thought you didn't know how to cook."

"Oh, I didn't until recently, but ever since I moved in with Imouto-san I've been having the girls teach me," he said. "Can't depend on them all the time, you know. I'm no chef, mind you, but I can whip up something simple when I have to. Ah, here we are," he added as they arrived in front of the supermarket. They took a shopping basket and walked over to the food aisles. Eri was feeling rather excited in spite of herself; being a rich girl she had been to a supermarket only once or twice before, and it was always a novelty to her.

"Now then, let's see…what do you want to eat?" Harima asked her. "Just don't ask for French cuisine or anything."

"I wasn't going to," Eri said, a bit offended. Just how spoiled did he think she was? "I'm fine with anything, as long as there's no natto in it; I can't stand the smell."

"Okay, then…" He thought for a bit. "I'd rather make something quick tonight to save time for work…so…how about some fried rice and miso for tonight, and we can have curry for tomorrow. Is that all right with you?"

"Yeah, sure, but…I feel kind of bad," she said hesitantly. "I mean…I don't want to just sit around while you do everything."

"Don't worry, there are other chores besides cooking to be done," he reassured her. "You're going to earn your keep." They went from aisle to aisle at a brisk pace and Harima picked out whatever they needed for dinner and some other household items with quick efficiency, and shortly afterwards they left the supermarket carrying a shopping bag each.

When they got home, Harima showed Eri to Yakumo's and Sarah's room where she would sleep and then went to change clothes. Eri, too, put on casual clothes and they started to get on with the housework – he wanted to get it over with so that he could focus on his work after dinner. There was some laundry hanging outside and they took it in first; then Harima took the futons out to air them, leaving Eri to fold the clothes.

She was feeling more at ease now, and hummed contentedly to herself as she neatly folded the clothes she took from the hamper next to her. Despite her aristocratic upbringing she had never thought doing housework was beneath her or anything; on the contrary, she was rather fond of it as it gave her a 'homey' feeling she seldom got to enjoy. All her life she was given everything her heart would desire – everything but the thing she desired most of all, a normal family life with parents she'd get to see more often than a few days a year. She did not resent her parents for that – she understood both their love for her and the weight of their obligations and thus she never complained about her loneliness, but still she missed them a lot, and at times she wished she could be the daughter of a normal family like her friends.

Maybe that was why she was so happy about doing something as mundane as folding clothes right now; it gave her that peaceful feeling of a normal life she had come to associate with happiness. Smiling a little she carried on folding; she was just about done when she absentmindedly put her hand in the now almost empty hamper and pulled out…a pair of black boxers that could not possibly belong to Sarah or Yakumo. Eri's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as she realized just what she was holding in her hand, and letting out a yelp of terror she tossed the underwear to the other side of the room as though it were a live scorpion.

Hearing her cry, Harima ran to the room in a rush, and found Eri shaking in shock and flushed up to her hair-roots, eyeing his underwear so apprehensively you'd think she expected it to crawl over and bite her. "Hey, what's going on…?" he started asking, then he noticed what she was looking at and blushed in turn. "Oops," he said awkwardly, scratching his head. "How did that get here…I was sure I'd put all mine away already." As he went over to pick it up he went on to say, "Look, I know it's awkward but there's no need to freak out like this; it's not contaminated or anything."

"You don't understand a maiden's heart at all, Hige," Eri said with as much dignity as she could muster at the moment – she still hadn't gotten over the shock of being in such close contact with his underwear. "Well duh, I'm not a maiden," he said, then taking pity on her he added, "Anyway, the bath water should be warm by now, so if you're done here why don't you go take your bath while I make dinner?"

Eri agreed with that suggestion easily; after the shock she had sustained just now she could certainly use a little relaxation. As soon as she saw him disappear into the kitchen she went to her room and pulled out a change of clothes and underwear, then shut herself in the bathroom and got into the tub.

Although it was tiny compared to the huge bathtub in her mansion, she didn't mind; rather, it felt kind of cozy to her. She did not soak for too long though; fried rice didn't take too long to prepare as far as she knew and she didn't want to keep Harima waiting. When she had rinsed off and dried her hair she put her clothes on again and headed for the kitchen. Harima was already done with the fried rice and was just putting the last of the ingredients in the miso soup and lowering the fire on the stove to let it simmer.

"Smells nice," Eri said, craning her neck to take a look at the contents of the pot. _You too,_ he unwittingly thought as the scent of her freshly-washed skin reached him, then he shook his head violently to dispel such inappropriate thoughts. "It's almost ready," he said as calmly as he could. "All that's left is to turn the stove off in fifteen minutes and set the table."

"If that's all, I can do it too," Eri said. "The water in the tub is still warm so why don't you go take a bath in the meantime? If – if you don't mind using the same water as me, that is," she said shyly. "No…that's – that's okay, it'd be wasteful to draw another bath," he said a bit awkwardly. "Then I'll go take a bath and I'll leave the table to you. Just don't forget, fifteen minutes."

Eri nodded and he went to take a bath as well. Meanwhile she took out the tableware and started setting the table – she had eaten there many times last year and knew her way around the kitchen even more than in her own house. Without thinking she did the elaborate setting Nakamura always did in her house, napkins folded in the shape of swans and everything. Well, the napkins were paper and not linen, but whatever. It turned out quite pretty – Eri might be a lousy cook but she was very good at arranging and decorating. When Harima stepped in and saw the table he raised his eyebrows in surprise and chuckled nervously.

"Wow, that's neat," he said. "Makes me think I actually cooked something fancy." Eri laughed nervously too and said, "Nakamura always does this at home, so I thought I'd give it a try. Is it too much?"

"No, I guess this is fun too once in a while," he said. "Come on, let's eat; I'm starving."

Eri was quite curious what his cooking would taste like; as it turned out, it wasn't bad. Just like Harima had said, he was nowhere near Yakumo's level; the food was rather simple and not what one would call gourmet, but it was certainly edible, which was more than she could say for her cooking. "That's not bad at all," she told him earnestly. "Yakumo sure has taught you well; I'm starting to feel inferior as a woman."

"That's just plain silly," Harima said. "It's good to know how to cook but that's not what makes you a woman. I've told you before, it's not the end of the world if you're not perfect at everything you do."

Eri stared at him silently for a second; now that she thought about it, this was one of the things she liked about him: unlike most people around her, he didn't expect of her to be the all-around perfect woman. Everyone else, except maybe her friends, seemed to take for granted that she had no weak moments or things she was bad at, thus making her pressure herself to live up to their expectations; but he had never made her feel that way and that was probably why she was always able to be herself around him even at their most awkward moments. He thought well of her not _because _she was perfect but _despite _her imperfections, and for that reason she was more comfortable with him than with any other man she had met.

"So, are you going to start working after dinner?" she asked him, and he nodded affirmatively. "What about you, do you want to watch some TV or something?"

Eri shook her head. "No, I'd rather get on with my homework too; we have quite a lot for this weekend."

"Really? I didn't notice at all, but then again I haven't done any homework in ages."

"I'll say," Eri said reproachfully. "You've been sleeping all through classes lately; the other day you were practically snoring."

Harima shrugged his shoulders. "Can't help it," he said. "Recently I've been given more pages on the magazine and I'm pretty swamped. Plus I was called to work part-time with this moving company last weekend; the pay was good and I didn't want to pass it up." He shrugged again. "School's just not my top priority right now."

They fell silent again; Eri was thinking that maybe even now she didn't know Hige as well as she thought she did – this was one side of his she had never dwelt on much. Having to work for a living – she really had no idea what that was like. Her friends had sent her on part-time jobs a couple of times last year, but that was more for the heck of it, she didn't need the money or anything. But Harima had been working to support himself for years now; he was broke half the time, but he didn't depend on anyone but himself. Especially this year – maybe his income had increased after the serialization of his manga, or maybe it was because he wasn't compelled to do crazy things to impress a certain someone anymore, but she hadn't seen him ask anyone for money and whenever he had to buy something he always paid for it himself. He wasn't splurging or anything but it was clear that he was quite capable of supporting himself and paying his share of the house expenses as well. In a way, she envied him for that; she was fully aware that having to work for her daily bread would be tough and exhausting, but she was sure that being able to support herself through her own hard work alone would make her feel a lot more worthy.

After dinner was over with and the dishes washed, Eri asked Harima if there was a desk somewhere she could use for studying; Yakumo and Sarah didn't have one since they preferred to do their homework together in the living-room. "You can use the desk in my room if you like," Harima said. "But won't you need it for drawing?" Eri asked with concern; the last thing she wanted was to inconvenience him. "No, not today," he answered. "Since Imouto-san's not here, I have to do both the drawing and the inking myself and I'll need space to spread out the pages to dry, so I'll be using the low table." Eri didn't understand half of what he said, but she took him at his word and followed him to his room with her school bag in hand. She was a little nervous about entering his room but he didn't seem to think anything of it. He took some stacks of paper, pens and the like from the desk in the corner and set them on a low table he brought in, leaving the desk for Eri to use. Then he sat down on a cushion and got to work.

For a long while both of them worked in absolute silence, focused on their respective tasks; nothing could be heard but the scratching of pen on paper. Eri worked diligently on her homework; she didn't have anything better to do anyway, so she might as well do it as thoroughly as possible. She did everything they had been assigned for Monday, and even some exercises that were due for the following days as well. When she finally lifted her head from the books and looked at her watch she saw with surprise that more than three hours had already passed; it was getting rather late. Cautiously she stole a glance in the direction of the table; Harima was still there working, he hadn't moved at all from his spot. Eri stared at his unmoving profile for one long minute but he didn't take any notice. He was completely absorbed in his work; Eri had never seen him quite so focused. His eyes were trained on the pages and his hand holding a weird pen shaped like a fishbone was flying about on the white paper, leaving behind quick, dexterous strokes. Seeing the images spring forth from his pen on the paper seemed a bit like magic to Eri and for a while she just watched him, fascinated; but then she noticed something else as well. It wasn't very obvious, but he was tired; from time to time he paused for a bit and shut his eyes tightly and then he opened them and began drawing again. She wanted to do something to help him, but at first she couldn't think of anything; then it occurred to her that he could use a pick-me-up at least. Trying not to disturb him, she quietly rose from her chair and headed for the kitchen to make some tea; it was about the only thing she was confident she could make without burning the house down. A few minutes later she returned to the room with two steaming mugs of black tea in her hands.

She knelt down carefully near him, mindful not to spill even a drop on the spread out papers. "I made some tea; would you like any?" she asked and he lifted his head as if he'd noticed her for the first time. He nodded and took the mug from her, then took a few sips, sighing a little. "So…how's it coming along?" Eri asked hesitantly.

"Slowly," Harima said grumpily. "I knew it would take longer without Imouto-san doing the inking, but I didn't think it would take that long."

"How come you didn't get another assistant for the weekend?" Eri asked curiously. "Doesn't your company have any backup assistants?"

"They do, but none of them was available for this weekend," he said. "I'm just a newbie, they've got to cover the bigshots first. Whatever, I'll probably make it if I pull an all-nighter tonight and tomorrow; wouldn't be the first time."

Eri was quite astonished to hear him talking about pulling all-nighters so casually; she had no idea he had to work so much. "This…this inking you mentioned…is it very difficult?" she asked.

"Not so much difficult as time-consuming," he explained. "The thing is, I can't draw all the pages and then ink them, there's too many of them and I don't have enough space for them to dry. So I have to draw a few, then stop and ink them, then start drawing again…it's kind of frustrating. It's a lot quicker when there's another person doing the inking at the same time and I can focus on drawing alone; that's why we usually work with assistants."

"I – I see," Eri said thoughtfully. After a few moments of silence she said, "Then…since it's not that complicated…I could give you a hand if you want. I – I mean, I don't really have anything to do right now, and you look like you could use the help…I probably won't be as good as Yakumo, but I'm not bad at drawing…so…"

Harima abruptly lifted his head and looked at her, surprised but not at all displeased with her offer. It was true that he could use the help; even if he pulled two all-nighters he would be cutting it pretty close, and his drawing wouldn't be as good if he was sleep-deprived. Ojou had never done this before, but she was generally good with her hands, except when it came to cooking; and he knew for a fact she could draw quite well, he had seen her drawings in art class and they weren't bad. If instructed carefully, he reckoned she wouldn't be half bad as an assistant.

"Are you sure? It may not look like it, but it's pretty tiring work, you know," he cautioned her. "I don't mind," Eri said. "Like I said, I don't have anything better to do right now, and I don't like lazing about." "Okay, if you say so," Harima said. Setting the tea mugs aside, he pulled one of the drawn pages closer and gave her a few short, clear instructions about what toner to use and where. When he was sure she had understood the process he pushed a stack of drawn pages to the side of the table opposite him. "You can get started with these," he told her. "Remember, if there's anything you're not sure about, ask me. And take as much time as you need for it; it's better to go slowly than try to rush it and mess up the drawings."

Eri nodded her head in understanding and after sitting on a cushion opposite him she started to get on with her assigned work. As per his instructions she worked slowly and carefully, taking care not to ink outside the lines or spill ink anywhere. Like he had said, it wasn't all that difficult, it just required concentration. But after a couple of hours had passed she began to understand what he meant by tiring work; it might not be complex, but it was monotonous and exacting. Still, she carried on with her work without complaining; when she undertook something she always wanted to see it through no matter what. Gradually she started to get the hang of it and was able to work faster, although she still reminded herself not to hurry too much. When they finally decided to call it a night, she had managed to get a remarkable amount of work done.

Harima put down his pen after finishing off his last page and then he gathered the pages Eri had inked to inspect them. There were some minor mistakes here and there, like parts she had forgotten to ink and such, but nothing that couldn't be amended easily. "Not bad at all," he said approvingly when he was done. "And you've done quite a bit; I had thought I'd go without any sleep tonight, but with that much done I'll make the deadline for sure as long as I get started early tomorrow. Good to know I'll be able to get some shut-eye at least."

Eri was happy to hear him praise her work so warmly, not to mention she was proud of herself for having done such a good job. "If you want, I can help you again tomorrow," she said. "I'm done with my homework already and there's not much else to do around here, so it's all the same to me."

"Really? Gee, thanks," he said, genuinely grateful. "Then I'll count on you again tomorrow. Come on now, let's get some sleep; I kept you up way too late."

Eri nodded in agreement, and after bidding him goodnight she went to Sarah and Yakumo's bedroom and lay down in her futon, smiling happily. She had feared they'd be way too uncomfortable around each other after spending so much time together but instead it had been rather relaxing for her, despite the underwear incident. Hige, too, seemed to be quite at ease with her in the house, and not at all awkward or uptight as she thought he would be. And best of all, not only had she not hindered him in his work – all this time she was worried about her presence distracting him when he was clearly pressed for time – but she had helped him out instead, given something back in exchange of his kindness to take her in. Still smiling she closed her eyes, determined that tomorrow, too, she would 'earn her keep' to the fullest.

The next day dawned and Eri woke up early – she usually rose early anyway. The first thing she realized was that it felt much colder in the house today; even though it was sunny outside over the night the temperature had dropped several degrees and she was feeling quite chilly. Shivering a little, she quickly put on her clothes – with an extra sweater today – and went to wash her face and brush her hair. When she was done, she heard noises coming from the kitchen and headed there. Harima was already there – he had probably woken up even earlier than her – making breakfast.

"Morning," he greeted her when she stepped in. "You're just in time for breakfast."

"Good morning," she greeted back. "It's rather cold today, isn't it?"

"Sure is," he agreed. "It's almost time for winter break; it was bound to get cold one of these days."

Shortly afterwards they sat down to breakfast; the warm food helped keeping the cold away. "Are we going to start work right after breakfast?" Eri asked.

"No, I'm going to cook the curry first; that way we'll only have to heat it up and cook the rice when it's time for lunch. It tastes better if you let it sit for a few hours anyway."

While he cooked Eri at first did some minor chores around the house – put the futons away, wiped the breakfast table, things like that. But those were soon done, so afterwards she just hung around the kitchen watching Harima cook. Occasionally he would ask her to pass him some ingredient or other, but she noticed that he wouldn't let her do anything more complicated than that; obviously he had no faith at all in her cooking abilities.

"It looks so easy when I see you doing it," she grumbled, pouting a little. "I just don't understand why I can't get the hang of it."

"Hey, that's exactly how I felt the first times I saw Imouto-san cook," he said. "And it's not like I got it just right on my first try either. I just tried, and failed, and tried again, until at some point I managed to get the taste right. Anyway, if you're so hung up on learning how to cook, why didn't you get your folks to hire a chef to tutor you or something?"

"Well…actually I wanted to learn how to cook so that I could make dinner for my father," Eri said. "You know, surprise him and everything. But I never got a chance to even try, he's been almost always abroad on business lately…I've barely seen either of my parents these last two years. Not that I'm complaining, of course; I know how busy they both are," she hastened to add; even now, she wouldn't admit for the world that she missed her parents. Despite the fact that she wasn't afraid of showing her true self to Hige anymore, there were some weaknesses she couldn't share yet even with him. Harima stopped cooking and looked straight at her for a few seconds; somehow he got the feeling she was forcing herself to put on a strong front once again, but he knew that if she wasn't willing to open her heart to him about this there was no point in trying to force her to confide in him. Rather, he chose to get her mind off those depressing thoughts, so without saying anything he returned to his cooking. After stirring the curry in the pot once more, he scooped out a little with the ladle and gestured to her to come closer. "It's almost done, want to see how it tastes? I thought I'd make it a bit spicy today, since it's cold and everything."

Eri took a taste out of the ladle, and two seconds later her face flared up and there was practically steam coming out of her ears. "Th…that sure is spicy," she gasped teary-eyed, then ran to the sink and drank three glasses of water one after another. Harima looked at her, a bit surprised; when he had tried it earlier on it hadn't seemed that spicy to him. "So….um, how does it taste?" he asked her hesitantly.

"I don't know, I think my taste buds have been burned," Eri said, still in the midst of drinking water. "Is that so? And here I thought it was rather mild." "Well, obviously our spicy tolerance levels are different," Eri said. "Okay, okay, I got you," he said good-naturedly. "I'll mix some milk in your portion before we eat, it'll draw out the spiciness. Wouldn't want you to start spitting fire inside a wooden house."

Eri smiled a little at the joke he made; it was kind of amazing how he could make her forget her personal worries so easily. When he was done a few minutes later he told her, "Alright, time to get to work."

"Ready when you are," Eri said and set out for his room, but he stopped her. "We'll work in the living-room today. Wait a sec." He stepped outside to the shed for a few minutes, then returned with a low table equipped with a heating unit and a blanket hanging from the sides. "A kotatsu?" Eri asked, surprised.

"Yeah," he replied. "It's the only way to go in this weather; otherwise, after sitting still for a few hours we'll both get numb from the waist down. Believe me, I've been there." He quickly set it up in the living-room while Eri brought over the papers and writing utensils from his room, and then they both sat down to resume working.

Since she had already learnt the basics the day before, Eri was able to work at a faster pace today, although she was still extra careful not to make any major mistakes. But that wasn't to say the work itself wasn't trying for her; sitting in the same position for hours on end was hard on her waist and lower back, and her fingers grasping the pen were cold and aching with fatigue. As the hours went by, she was gaining a whole new respect for Yakumo who did this on a regular basis and still managed to get top grades in school and do her household chores perfectly. What's more, she felt guilty for ever having doubted Hige's devotion to his work. Quite often in the past she had thought this was more of a hobby to him than an actual job, but now she realized that manga didn't draw themselves; creating even a single story required tremendous effort and dedication. Well, the least she could do to redeem herself now that she knew of this first-hand was to help him out as much as she could, and that thought gave her all the more drive to work diligently without complaining about her tiredness.

By noon, Harima noticed with satisfaction that they had made much more progress than he had dared to anticipate; at this rate, the manuscript might even be finished before dinner-time. "Good work," he said approvingly again while checking Eri's finished pages. "Let's go get a bite to eat for now and we'll finish the rest after lunch."

Eri nodded eagerly, happy to see him so pleased, and they both went to the kitchen to cook the rice and set the table; a little later they sat down to eat. After Harima had put some milk in her portion, Eri found the curry mild enough for her to eat, and she was awfully hungry; apparently, so was he, because for quite some time they just ate together in ravenous silence.

"You know, I have to confess I didn't expect you to take drawing manga so seriously," Eri said at some point; both yesterday and today she had been impressed by the professionalism he had displayed while working. While drawing he was concentrating intensely and was more collected than she had ever seen him; nothing like the rough-and-tumble Hige she had got to know. Last year she was positive that he took nothing seriously except for his one-sided love but now she saw that his work as a mangaka was truly important to him. Of course she already knew that now he was giving his future some serious thought and wished to improve himself and his lot in life, but still, seeing him so devoted to his work was somewhat unexpected for her.

"Of course I do, it's my livelihood; that's what I intend, at least," he told her solemnly. "Besides, all those people who buy the magazine put down their hard-earned money in order to read my stories. I can't possibly give them sloppy work; that would mean I have no respect or appreciation for them."

"So, thinking about those who read your work makes you want to do it better, huh?" she asked. "I guess so, but I also take pride in knowing that I did my very best in every assignment I turn in," he said thoughtfully, staring across the table at her. "You think the same way about the things you do, don't you?"

Eri could not help but agree with him on this; she, too, once having decided to do something could not rest easy until she was sure she had put in the best possible effort for it. But more than that she was pleased to see how Hige now was taking those around him into such consideration. Thinking back on his behavior when she had first got to know him, she realized that back then his whole world was centered on Tenma alone; everything he said or did was for her sake, nothing else mattered to him. But since last year already that had gradually begun to change; he had found other things that interested him besides his love, and people he had learned to care about; hopefully, she was one of those people too. Still, this entire process had been almost undone when his heart was broken; for a while, distraught by pain and self-destructiveness as he was, he had been on the verge of severing all ties connecting him to this new life he had created for himself and becoming once again an unfeeling, empty-hearted person filled with nothing but pent-up rage. When he had told her that she had 'saved' him she did not fully understand what he meant by it at the time, but now she knew and she was glad for it. Not only for his sake, but for her own as well; if he hadn't turned back and had indeed become such a despicable person…then her heart too would have been shattered together with his.

"Anyway, there's not much left, so we should probably finish soon," Harima said, ignorant of Eri's thoughts. "Want to get back to it?"

"Sure, let's finish this in one go," Eri said, giving him a little smile. He didn't understand what she was so happy about, but he smiled back at her and rose from the table.

The afternoon passed quickly; both of them were more tired now and wanted to get some rest, but now that they were so close to finishing they just wanted to get it over and done with so that they could properly relax afterwards. At some point Harima finished drawing and started inking the remaining pages together with Eri. When those were done, he checked every page again for errors, corrected those few he found and finally when all the pages had dried properly he stacked them neatly in their correct order and put them inside a manila envelope with his name and the title of the manuscript written outside. "There, all ready," he said with a satisfied smile. "Thanks a million for all the help, Ojou; if it weren't for you I wouldn't be even halfway done now."

"You're welcome; it wasn't any trouble, really," Eri said brightly to him. Then she took a look out the window and saw that it was already dark outside. Checking her watch she remarked, "Wow, I can't believe it's almost time for dinner already. I'm pretty beat so I think I'm going to take a bath first, what about you?"

"Go ahead; I'll take mine after you and then I suppose we can have dinner. What're you going to do after that, do you want to turn in?"

"I don't know, it's not that late," Eri said. "I am too tired to do anything much, though…maybe I'll just watch some TV until I get sleepy."

"Oh, hey, that reminds me," Harima said with a sudden and unusual animation, "there's a special episode of 'The Three Who Were Slashed' airing tonight. I totally thought I was going to miss it with all the work I had to do, but it looks like I can make it after all," he went on with a certain childish enthusiasm that made Eri smile; she knew since last year that he was a hardcore fan of this show. "Want to watch it together? Or is there something else you'd like to watch instead?"

"No, I didn't have anything in particular in mind," she said. "That's fine by me." In truth she wasn't all that interested in watching a samurai drama, but she generally didn't watch TV very often anyway and she couldn't think of anything else she'd rather watch at the moment. Besides, Tenma was always going on about that show, and Eri was a bit curious to see what was so great about it.

After they took their baths Harima made dinner; neither of them was very hungry so he just made an omelet rice with the leftover rice from lunch. Again, it wasn't perfect but certainly good enough to eat; Eri was thinking that perhaps she should consider taking cooking lessons after all. With Tenma gone, she was officially the worst cook among her friends and acquaintances, and now even Hige had surpassed her in that field. She knew that he didn't mind her ineptitude, but still her pride was wounded.

When they had finished eating and washing the dishes they went back to the living-room and sat under the kotatsu again; it had got even colder after nightfall and the warmth under it was agreeable to both of them. This time they sat next to each other on the same side of the table, so that both of them could face the TV screen. Eri was a bit embarrassed about this at first, but she quickly got over it; sitting side by side wasn't nearly the most intimate thing they had ever done after all. In any case, Harima didn't seem to care one bit about that; no sooner had his favorite show started than he got completely engrossed in it, his attention focused solely on the screen across the room. Eri on the other hand tried to give it some attention too at first in the hope of learning more about it, but just like she expected all these swordfights and long-winded manly speeches about honor and bravery were rather boring for her. Besides, all the piled-up fatigue of the day had finally begun to catch up with her; moreover, her stomach felt heavy after having eaten dinner and the warmth of the kotatsu only served to increase her drowsiness. By the end of the commercial break she was already struggling to keep her eyes open, and shortly after the start of the second half she drifted off into a deep slumber.

Harima didn't notice that she had fallen asleep, absorbed as he was in watching the episode; he only became aware of his surroundings again when the final credits showed up on the screen. "Man, that duel between Mangoku and the evil assassin was just epic! Don't you think so, Ojou…oh, she's asleep," he said, seeing Eri sleeping soundly with her head leaning on his shoulder. "That girl…sleeping through such a great scene, she really can't appreciate a good drama." Then his eyes softened a bit as he was staring at her; she looked so sweet right now, just like a sleeping angel. He turned off the TV and carefully put his arm around her shoulders, then gently laid her back on the tatami with his arm underneath her neck in place of a pillow. He, too, lay on his side next to her and pulled the kotatsu blanket over both of them to keep her warm.

_This sure brings back memories,_ he thought to himself as he stared down at her. _It was around this time last year when we ran away together and slept in that temple, wasn't it? Back then too, she just fell asleep next to me without a care in the world. Well, she was safe from me then because I wasn't interested, but now…_

Now…there was no way he could honestly say he wasn't interested. After the agreement they had reached at the sports festival he had calmed down enough to act normally around her; not because his bodily desires had disappeared, though, but because he no longer obsessed about them. He still dreamed of her from time to time and whenever he felt the need to deal with his urges it was always her face popping into his mind, but he had decided that he would no longer feel guilty about it. He was a guy, and it was natural for a guy to think of a pretty girl while doing those things; it was a normal physical reaction, no need to make a big deal out of it. That way of thinking had helped him get most of his peace of mind back…but now that he had come to terms with his desires it was all the more difficult not to act on them in a situation such as this, when the object of all his sexual fantasies was sleeping innocently right next to him. _Ojou…you're being way too careless around me, you know…? I'm a man too, and right now you're just so…_

So…what? 'Cute' didn't seem quite the right word for her, probably because he had never thought of her as cute. Then what – 'tempting'? He supposed she was that too, but it wasn't just arousal he felt right now – oh, he was aroused all right, more so than he had been in months now…but this time it was different; a warm, fuzzy feeling, an urgent need to hold her close and keep her there, to shower her in affection and tenderness. He leaned closer, studying her sleeping face attentively with a strangely intense expression in his eyes; he could feel his heartbeat accelerating and his body temperature rising with each passing minute. Almost unconsciously he smoothed her bangs out of the way with his free hand, and leaning closer still, he brushed his heated lips against her forehead.

It is said that it takes only a small step off the straight path to lead you down a very slippery slope, and Harima was getting first-hand experience of this right now. Just like back at the beach, once he touched Eri he no longer knew how to stop himself; worse than that, he didn't even care about stopping. He kissed her forehead again, then her closed eyelids, then her cheekbones, the tip of her nose…He only hesitated when he reached her lips; he wanted them too, he wanted them so badly, but…if he kissed her there he felt he'd be crossing a line he wasn't ready to cross yet. It took every ounce of his remaining self-control to skip them and kiss her chin instead, then he slowly started working his way up again.

Meanwhile his hand had started having a mind of its own too…It was quite innocent at first; combing through her silky hair, stroking her peachy cheek with the back of his hand, tracing the side of her neck with his fingers…but soon that was no longer enough. His hand moved further down all by itself…the thick blanket covering Eri's body provided a bit of a barrier, but he could still feel the outlines of her body underneath, the soft swelling of her breasts, her slender waist and flat belly, the curves of her hips and thighs…His mind went blank, he was no longer thinking; he just kept on kissing her face and caressing her body, until at some point he felt her move and immediately froze in panic.

Fortunately for him, Eri didn't wake up; drawn by his body heat she just shifted a little closer to him. Then she smiled a little and mumbled something incoherent in her sleep, nuzzling like a kitten in the crook of his shoulder. Harima let out a sigh and brought a hand to his forehead; what on earth had gotten into him just now? After they had finally managed to regain their friendship, how could he betray her trust like that? _I don't even know what the heck I was doing here, but I'm pretty sure I was being way out of line and I deserve getting beaten to a pulp! _When Ojou had said that as long as they were friends she would not misunderstand him touching her anymore, he was positive she didn't have that kind of touching in mind; that was certainly not something to be done among friends. On the other hand, if she was his girlfriend…

He lifted his head abruptly, shocked by this sudden thought. This was the first time he had considered another girl besides Tenma as a potential girlfriend. But it was bound to happen at some point, he reckoned; Tenma was gone for months now, and with her every hope of ever being with her; he knew beyond any doubt now that her heart would never turn towards him. And he didn't want to spend the rest of his life alone, pining over her; he had sacrificed just about everything for her sake, but wasting his whole life for that would be the height of foolishness; not even she would want him to squander all his remaining years in misery because of her. She would want him to be happy one day, because that's the kind of person Tenma was; she wanted everyone around her to smile with genuine happiness.

What's more, during these months he had done a lot of thinking about his past interactions with her, and much to his surprise he had started to doubt whether Tenma was the kind of person he would be truly happy with after all. While thinking back on their times together, it had inevitably occurred to him that half the time he spent with her he was trying to conceal something about himself from her. Like he was telling Imouto-san a few weeks ago, right from the start he had never been completely honest with her. So – what, he loved her but he didn't trust her enough to tell her that he was the one who had saved her, or that he was drawing a manga inspired by his love for her? And supposing he did manage to win her over last year and then she found out about everything he had kept from her – how would she feel about someone hiding so many things from her, and even letting her believe he was aiming for her own sister? Now that he went over all those things again in his head, it was clear to him what a monumental idiot he had been all this time. Karasuma had never acted so stupidly; even though he was in love with Tenma just as much as he was, he had never bent over backwards to change his personality just to appeal to her, nor had he ever been anything less than absolutely honest with her. And yet she had loved him just the same and followed him to the other side of the world. There was only one conclusion he could draw from all those mistakes of his: that no matter how strong his feelings were, there was no way he could ever build a healthy relationship with someone he was afraid to be honest with.

With Ojou on the other hand…again, thinking back on their times together it was evident that he had never been afraid to be his true self around her. What few things he had kept from her he had kept from everyone so that they wouldn't reach Tenma's ears, but other than that he had never felt the need to keep any secrets from her. And after Tenma left he hadn't hesitated even once to be upfront with her even in the most awkward situations…But even so, until then he had never thought of her as girlfriend material. Girlfriends were supposed to be coy and gentle and acting all lovey-dovey with their boyfriends, whereas she was pushy and sharp-tongued and never gave him the time of day. She could not possibly be any further from his idea of a perfect girlfriend…that's what he thought up till then, but now as he looked at her sleeping by his side, for some reason he started wondering…As more than just a friend, as a partner…a girlfriend…what would Ojou be like?

He wasn't really sure how to answer that. As far as he knew, despite her pretty girl attitude Ojou didn't have much experience of men. She had told him herself that she didn't trust men and had never had a proper relationship in her life; come to think of it, he was probably the only guy she had ever become so close with. Well, with him too she never acted girly or sweet; in fact, at times her treatment of him bordered on domestic violence. If, hypothetically, they got together, it was a safe bet that she'd still call him an idiot instead of 'dear' or anything like that. But…it was also true that she was always there for him when he needed her, and that even though she was always scolding him, she had never been truly mean or spiteful; and quite frankly, whenever she got angry with him it was invariably because he had done something stupid. And when she was the one in the wrong she wouldn't try to wriggle her way out of it, she always admitted her fault and apologized. If he was with her, he was sure that he'd never need to hide anything from her (not to mention it would be a wasted effort to even try, he'd never be able to deceive her). And she would never hide anything from him either; in her case, it was literally 'what you see is what you get'.

And what he saw didn't seem such a bad deal lately, especially after those last two days he had spent with her. It had turned out much better than he expected; he had invited her to stay with him because he was concerned for her and didn't want her to go downtown on her own, but truthfully he was afraid that he would end up regretting his decision. Quarrelling with her wasn't exactly his idea of a peaceful weekend, not to mention he feared he would be so busy babysitting her that he wouldn't have enough time to get any work done. But contrary to his expectations, Ojou hadn't been at all arrogant or unreasonable, and far from demanding any special treatment she had ended up helping him instead. She was still strict with him but it was the kind of honest criticism he could take and probably needed too. And while she didn't give him any sweet words her actions showed she cared about him, like the way she had worked alongside him all this time without grumbling about it or rubbing it in his face afterwards. He wasn't at all certain whether she saw him as just a friend or more than that, but the idea of being together with her like he had been those two days...did not strike him as disagreeable.

It wasn't just that she had helped him out…more than that, he had to admit that the time he had spent with her had been unexpectedly fun. Having someone with whom he could talk freely, without holding himself back…it felt nice, just as it felt nice knowing that she, too, showed him her true self, not the cutesy image she projected for everyone else's benefit. Even her biting comments didn't bother him as much anymore; maybe he had gotten used to them by now, or perhaps it was because she had this annoying habit of being right most of the time, but arguing with her wasn't nearly as unpleasant for him as it used to be. The prospect of being able to share his thoughts and troubles and even his feelings with her didn't make him uncomfortable in any way and that was saying a lot, considering that even now he was a person who had a hard time opening up to others.

Moreover, he had discovered that he kind of wanted to learn more about her as well; while over time he had got to know a fair bit about her, there were still many things he didn't have a clue about, and…somehow he wanted to change that. He wanted her to feel free to talk to him about anything, be it good or bad, just like he did. If they became closer…more intimate than they were now, he'd be able to satisfy this newfound curiosity, wouldn't he? Not to mention he'd get to become more familiar with her on a physical level as well…and the mere thought of having unlimited access to that gorgeous body of hers was enough to make his already overexcited manhood twitch eagerly in anticipation. _For crying out loud, Kenji, stop thinking with your lower half already! This is serious!_ he admonished himself, forcibly staying his hand from starting a second round of indecent explorations. Anyway, the bottom line of all this was that getting closer to her had started to appeal to him…but the question was, did she feel the same way?

Judging by her behavior around him lately Harima got the impression that she wasn't averse to the idea either; but this time he wasn't inclined to rely on his own impressions alone. In the past he had been burnt by his own presumptions far too many times, and that had made him way more cautious; even if it was selfish on his part to think this way, he wasn't about to put his heart out to be stomped on all over again so easily. He didn't believe that Ojou would ever deliberately hurt his feelings, but that wasn't the point really; Tenma, too, had never wanted to hurt him and yet she had nearly been the death of him. Even considering another relationship seemed rather bold to him at this point; he certainly wasn't going to rashly land himself into another tormenting unrequited love. He was determined to take this slowly and give his feelings time to develop – or not, it all depended on what he would find along the way, he supposed. For now…it would suffice to keep spending time with her, getting to see her in all sorts of different situations…Like tomorrow, for instance; now that his assignment was completed and he had the whole day to himself…maybe they could go out for a ride, or to get something to eat…just hang out together, nothing big. It would be a good opportunity to learn more about each other…and besides after all that work she'd done for him the least he could do in return was treat her to something. He decided not to think any further than this for the time being; better take this one step at a time, without getting ahead of himself. Having made up his mind, he finally looked down at her again; she was still sleeping peacefully, with a content smile on her face. _What is she dreaming about, I wonder,_ he thought, his chest welling up with tenderness all over again; seeing her sleep next to him with such a blissful expression made him feel unprecedentedly moved. Drawn in once again, almost without realizing it he brushed a finger ever so lightly over her lips and then pressed it on his own, then he quickly pulled back a little and curled his hand into a fist before he ended up touching her in even more untoward ways. He resolutely told himself to keep it together and go to sleep, but…he didn't have the heart to leave her there or wake her up and send her to her room. _She's sleeping so comfortably right now…it's a pity to wake her up, isn't it? And…it's no big deal if we happen to fall asleep here, right? I'm not going to do anything…just keep her nice and warm, that's all._ Despite all that reasoning he still felt a bit guilty, but that didn't stop him from draping his other arm around her and pulling her deeper into his embrace; then he closed his eyes and breathed evenly, seeking to calm himself. He was sure he'd never be able to sleep whilst holding such an armful of temptation, but his fatigue finally got the better of him, and a few minutes later he, too, was sound asleep.

SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR SR

When Eri woke up the next morning she felt remarkably relaxed and refreshed; she hadn't had such a deep, good night's sleep in a long while. The first thing she noticed upon waking up was that her nose was buried into something; it was soft and warm and smelled nice, but somehow didn't feel like a pillow. Then again, this thing under her neck seemed kind of different from her pillow last night too. She opened her eyes and drifted them around a bit…and then they widened in shock as she realized that it was Harima's arm under her neck, and the thing her nose was buried into was his armpit. _I…I'm not dreaming or anything, am I?_ But no, she wasn't dreaming, he was there sleeping right next to her, one muscular arm resting heavily on her waist. _What on earth happened last night…I remember trying to stay awake while watching that stupid samurai show, and then nothing…Did we both fall asleep in front of the TV?_ That was the most logical conclusion, she supposed; in any case, both of them were still fully dressed, which meant nothing improper had happened. Well, if it was just falling asleep together…no need to make a fuss about that, right? It had happened again before, and besides they had agreed not to freak out over every little thing anymore…so…she'd be cool about it, yes she would. Even if her body felt anything but cool right now.

It had been quite a while since the last time they were close like this, but he still affected her as much as ever; all her senses were stirred by his presence, even her skin was tingling. She had missed this closeness so much, even if it was indecent she didn't want it to end._ It's…it's not a violation of our agreement if I pretend to be asleep for a while longer, is it?_ she thought nervously, then she shut her eyes again and snuggled against him, feeling happy if a tiny bit guilty. _I'm a bad, bad girl,_ she thought, _but I can't…I just can't help myself around him._

They stayed like this for several minutes, until Eri finally felt Harima waking up; she shifted a bit as well and opened her eyes, pretending she had just woken up too. She expected him to be shocked upon seeing her next to him, but to her surprise he just looked at her through heavy eyelids and murmured drowsily, "…Hey, you're up?"

"Mm-hmm," she said and yawned, sticking to her decision to keep cool. "What happened…did we fall asleep after the show last night?"

"…Yeah, seems so," he said, averting his eyes from her; he was still feeling guilty about his actions last night. He noticed, however, that Ojou didn't seem angry or displeased to find him sleeping next to her. Originally he had intended to pull away from her as soon as they woke up, but for some reason he impulsively decided to push his luck a little more and kept his arm where it was. He still felt that he owed her an apology, though, so he said, "Sorry…for letting you sleep on the floor, I mean; it was hard on you, wasn't it?" Actually this wasn't what he was apologizing for, but he couldn't very well tell her that.

"No, it's…it's okay…I mean, it was warm, so it wasn't that bad," Eri said, blushing a little. It occurred to her that he was being strangely calm, considering the awkwardness of the situation…not to mention he didn't seem to be in any hurry to let go of her. Not that she had any inclination to move away from him either; while normally even the thought of a man so close to her would creep her out, being near Hige felt so calming and comfortable…so right. Last year too she had felt it when they had slept side by side at that temple, and she didn't even know it was him sleeping next to her. But this time around it felt even better; she just wanted to curl up in his arms and stay there forever. Of course that wasn't possible, but she didn't want to act contrary to her feelings anymore; she wanted to show him that she really liked being around him. Admittedly it wasn't easy to break her long-standing habit of snapping at him and treating him roughly, but she wanted to at least try and get her true feelings across with her actions since she couldn't get the words out yet. So she just let him keep his arm around her without commenting on it at all, although she couldn't help feeling flustered and uncertain about allowing this intimacy. Trying desperately to hide her uneasiness, she cleared her throat and asked him, "S-so…is there anything you have to do today, now that you're done with your manuscript?"

"W-well…I still have to submit it to the publishing company," Harima said, uneasy as well; to be sure, he wasn't doing anything overly indecent but still it was very unlike Ojou to let him take such liberties with her. Somehow this unusual tolerance on her part encouraged him to follow through with the decision he had made last night. "I'd rather get it over with as soon as possible, so I was thinking of going there right after breakfast."

"Oh," Eri said, a little crestfallen. "Well…in that case I suppose I'll find something to do around here until you get back. How long do you think you'll be gone?"

"Actually…" Harima hesitated a little, then raising his head to look at her he said, "…I was wondering if you'd like to come along too."

"M-me?" stammered Eri, dumbfounded. "Go to your publishing company? What for?"

"No, what I mean is…see, I don't have to stay there too long today. I'll just submit the manuscript and grab my pay, it shouldn't take more than half an hour." He paused once again and then went on to say, "…I was thinking…maybe we could go get a bite to eat or something afterwards. I'm buying; I mean, as thanks for helping me out," he added hurriedly, determined to keep this as casual as possible. "Don't expect anything fancy though; I don't get paid that much."

"No, I…you know I don't mind that," Eri said as calmly as she could, trying her damnedest to restrain herself from squealing with joy. _This…I didn't hear him wrong just now, did I? A date…Hige just asked me out on a date!_ It was only natural for her to feel so delighted; those few times they had gone out before, it was either by accident or her taking the initiative to invite him; this was the very first time he had asked her out on his own. But only a few seconds later her common sense kicked in to dampen her enthusiasm. _Whoa there girl, hold your horses now. This is Hige we're talking about here; he probably doesn't think of this as a date at all. For all I know, he really is taking me out to thank me and nothing more._ But even if that was the case, her heart could not help overflowing with happiness at the prospect of spending the day with him, making her amber eyes sparkle brightly.

Harima looked at her, a little surprised by her unusually joyful expression._ She's that happy about something like this?_ He wasn't quite sure why someone who was used to being taken out to five-star restaurants every other day would be so excited about going to one of those middle-class joints he could afford, but he was pleased with her reaction; once again, it showed him that despite her upbringing she wasn't picky or spoiled. "Okay then," he said with a hint of a smile, "you go get ready until I make breakfast. Oh, and be sure to dress warmly, it's going to be freezing cold on the bike." His arm lingered on her waist a second longer, as if reluctant to let go, and then he decisively pulled down the blanket and got up.

Eri went eagerly back to her room to pick out what to wear for the day. It was fortunate that she had so few clothes with her, otherwise she'd probably spend half the day deciding on her outfit. Taking heed of Harima's advice she put on warm clothing, although she could not resist wearing a skirt – good thing she had brought woolen tights with her. After a quick breakfast Harima warmed up the engine of his bike and they set off. He was going pretty fast and the cold was biting, so Eri didn't think too much about holding onto him tightly this time, although the closeness made both of them feel quite self-conscious. Soon they arrived in front of the huge office building housing Harima's publishing company which stood on a busy street. It was Sunday, so it wasn't as bustling as it would be on a weekday, but still there were a lot of people around.

Harima parked his motorcycle and a few minutes later they were standing in front of the entrance of the tall building. "Like I said, I'll need half an hour tops," Harima said with his manuscript clutched in his hand. "Will you come up too, or would you rather wait in the lobby or something until I'm done…?" he asked uncertainly.

Eri thought about it for a few seconds; she was curious to see his workplace, but if she went with him the others there would probably ask who she was, what was her relation to Harima…in a nutshell, a lot of questions she'd rather not have to answer right now, not to mention she was fairly sure he'd be uncomfortable about it too. On the other hand she didn't want to wait in the lobby either; the receptionist would certainly ask her what was she doing there, so basically she'd have to answer those same inconvenient questions she was trying to avoid. "I think…I'd rather wait for you over there," she said eventually, pointing at a small café across the street. It was one of those chain cafés where salarymen would stop to buy a cup of coffee on their way to work, with only a bare minimum of tables inside. Fortunately today wasn't a workday, so it probably wouldn't be too packed for her to wait there until Hige was done with his work obligations.

Harima took a look at the café sign she pointed out to him, then nodded in understanding. "Okay, then I'll come to pick you up as soon as I'm finished," he said and vanished into the building.

Eri crossed the street and entered the café; just as she expected, it was nearly empty. She sat on a stool near the counter (no point in getting a table since she'd leave in a short while) and ordered a cup of black tea. She paid for it as soon as the waiter brought it over, so that she could leave as soon as Hige came to pick her up.

For a while she just sat there sipping her tea and staring absentmindedly at the opposite wall, thinking about the day that lay ahead and how they would spend it, just the two of them. It was still early for lunch, so what should they do in the meantime? There was the option of seeing a movie or going to karaoke, but she'd rather avoid small or dark places at the moment; she liked being close to Hige, but she was afraid that too much intimacy might make them freak out and grow apart again. The atmosphere between them was so good these last two days, she didn't want to act rashly and ruin it. Plus she had been cooped up in the house since Friday afternoon and she'd rather stay outdoors for a few hours at least. Lost in her thoughts, she paid no attention whatsoever to her surroundings; she didn't notice at all when the other two customers in the café departed and she was the only person left in the store, aside from the waiter.

It was about twenty minutes after she'd got there, when the door opened and some guy in his early thirties walked in. He was tall and hulky with bulging muscles, and swaggered in like he owned the place; the kind of guy normal people were afraid of and obviously aware of it. In short, a stereotypical bully. His clothes were rather flashy too; not the kind one would normally wear on a Sunday morning, more like what someone who was out all night and hadn't gone home to change yet would be wearing.

Eri didn't notice any of this though; absorbed as she was in thinking about her date, she didn't even see the guy enter the café. Unfortunately, her presence didn't pass equally unnoticed. The guy had barely entered when his eyes fell on her and he immediately made his way towards her with a disgustingly appreciative look on his face. She was still lost in her thoughts though, and didn't realize his presence until he was right next to her.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes," he drawled, leaning towards her in an all too obvious manner; one thing was for sure, subtlety wasn't his strong point. Eri lifted her head, startled at the sound of his voice. Almost immediately the look on her face changed to one of disgust and she pulled back so abruptly she almost fell off her stool.

Unfortunately that discouraging reaction didn't deter the guy in the slightest. Leaning in he asked in the same loathsome manner, "What's a pretty thing like you doing in such a place?"

"I'm waiting for someone," Eri said tersely; she wasn't in the least inclined to act cute or even polite with such a scumbag. Seeing that he still wasn't discouraged she added quickly, "And you don't want to be around when he gets here." Unfortunately, he didn't seem to take her seriously because he showed no intention of laying off. Eri was starting to get scared; she knew she'd never be able to fight him off if he tried to force her into anything. She tried her best not to let it show, as that would only encourage him, but she really wished Hige would arrive soon.

"If he stood up a girl like you he must be a real douche," he said, grabbing her wrist. "Forget that loser and let's go have some fun together."

Eri's eyes flashed angrily and she pulled back her hand roughly. "What part of 'I'm waiting for someone' don't you understand? Sir, this person is bothering me!" she called out to the waiter, who made a move as if to intervene, then caught sight of the guy's build and glare and retreated to the other side of the café, pretending not to hear.

Seeing that nothing stood between him and his prey, the guy grabbed Eri's wrist again before she had a chance to get away. "No need to act so tough," he said, leering at her. "You dig me too, I can tell. Come with me and I'll show you a good time." Seriously afraid now, Eri grabbed the nearest thing within reach, which happened to be her purse, and started hitting him with it; unfortunately, her strength wasn't nearly enough to break free of his grip. "I said let go of me, you creep!" she shouted, both indignant and scared.

"Got any business with my woman?" The deep, angry voice resonated all over the small café. Surprised, the guy half-turned to see Harima standing tall in the doorway with a very menacing expression on his face. Taking advantage of his lapse of attention, Eri pulled her hand free and made a dash for the doorway as fast as she could. The guy tried to go after her but Harima entered the café and in two large strides cut him off, shielding Eri behind him. The guy gave him a disdainful look; they were about the same height but Harima was less bulky and obviously younger, so he didn't consider him much of a threat. Fatal mistake.

"Out of my way, kid, before you get hurt," he sneered. "Someone's going to get hurt, but it's not going to be me," Harima said in a low voice, glowering at him steadily. The guy scowled at him and without warning lunged out to punch him. Having too much confidence in his strength, he was sure that one punch would be enough to take that kid out.

Unfortunately for him, he had no idea who he was dealing with; Harima might be less muscular but he had speed and skill to match his strength. He blocked the punch with one hand, gripping the guy's wrist to prevent him from moving away, and at the same time punched him in turn directly in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. While he was still doubled up, Harima twisted his wrist sharply, causing him to scream in pain, and with his other hand grabbed him by the throat.

"You messed with the wrong kid, jackass," he said in the same low voice, which was more ominous than any yelling. "Apologize to the lady and scram before I tear you a new one." Completely disheartened – not to mention in extreme pain – his defeated opponent didn't even think of disobeying that order. "S-sorry," he whispered hoarsely (Harima's hand on his throat was very constricting), and the moment he was released he ran out the door without looking back.

"Are you all right?" asked Harima, turning to face Eri who was still hiding behind him. She nodded without a word, although she was still quite shaken from the incident. "Let's get out of here then," he said curtly and walked out in large strides, with Eri trailing behind him. She thought of apologizing to the waiter before leaving, but in the end she didn't bother. Served him right for leaving her on her own with that scum, the coward.

Now, as she followed behind Harima, her mind was still a whirlwind of emotions. There was of course the shock and the fear, as well as the relief when he had come for her; and there was also…a rush of excitement she'd never thought she'd get from seeing something so unsightly as a brawl. _There's no denying it, I'm a lost cause, _she thought, blushing in shame. _I just got turned on seeing Hige beat the crap out of someone._

But deep down, she knew it wasn't the fight that had got her so excited, but those two words she had heard him say. 'My woman'…that's what he had called her. Even if it was just a slip of the tongue, or an attempt to intimidate the other guy…she still could not help feeling insanely happy about it. This was what she wanted the most, she was only too aware of it; him possessing her, body and soul…for all time.

Meanwhile Harima was still walking fast in front of her, trying to get ahold of his own emotions. It had been a while since the last time he was this furious at someone, and he totally didn't see it coming. He wasn't sure why, but just seeing this guy laying his hands on Ojou had made him boiling mad to a degree he could never have imagined. He did not regret beating him up – if anything, he regretted not beating him up enough – but that thing he blurted out when he saw them…what was he thinking, calling her 'his woman' all of a sudden? He just hoped to God Ojou would not misunderstand him again…he'd had enough misunderstandings to last him a lifetime already, the last thing he needed was more of them. Although he had to admit that this time she would be hardly to blame if she misunderstood what he had said; there weren't really that many ways to interpret it, and frankly he was at a loss how to make her understand what he meant by it…in fact, hell if he knew just what he meant by it.

At some point he finally realized he was walking way too fast and stopped, allowing her to catch up with him. Eri looked up at his troubled face and understood immediately that he was upset…but what for? "Hige…are you angry?" she asked him in a calm, almost soothing voice. Might as well make him get whatever was worrying him off his chest now rather than leave him in that state for the whole day.

He stared down at her. "…Not with you." He paused a bit, then added, "Sorry, I…I should never have let you wait there on your own."

"Come on, this wasn't supposed to be a dangerous place," Eri said in the same comforting manner. "There's no way you could have known that such a creep would turn up there so early in the morning. Anyway, you came in time to stop him, so in the end there's no harm done, right?"

But he still seemed troubled, and suddenly it occurred to Eri that he, too, might be unsettled by what he had said…maybe he was afraid that he had said too much. After their reconciliation she had decided that she would not let herself get carried away by false hopes so easily anymore, and that she would stick to being his friend unless he expressly told her otherwise. But he didn't know that; and although he seemed to be more at ease with her after their agreement, he was probably still fearful of a misunderstanding; they'd had plenty of those last year and both of them had suffered for it. In a way, right now he was kind of like those wild animals she saw in documentaries sometimes; if you try to approach them they'll get scared and run away, but if you stay still they'll get curious and come near you on their own. _I think…I should try the 'staying still' approach for now,_ she thought. _But who would have imagined that one day I'd be relying on zoology to get a guy._

"For my part, I'd rather just forget the whole thing," she went on cheerily. "I don't intend to let that cretin ruin my day." "…Yeah, I suppose you're right," he said eventually, looking rather relieved by her carefree attitude. "We shouldn't let that bastard get to us. So…anything you'd like to do now? It's still kind of early, and I'm not hungry yet."

"Neither am I," Eri said. Remembering what she was thinking about earlier she said, "Come to think of it, we haven't been outside since Friday…it would be nice to take a walk or something, stretch our legs a bit. Is there anything good to see around here? I don't think I've ever been to this part of town before."

"Well…there's not much in the way of sightseeing, but there is a shopping district over there," Harima said, pointing ahead of them. "I've been there a couple of times to check out the bookstores, buy drawing materials and the like. We could kill some time there if you want."

Eri nodded in agreement and soon they were strolling alongside the various shops and street stalls. It was quite crowded; the weather was nice despite the cold and lots of people were out shopping. The two of them walked pretty casually, stopping every so often to check a shop window or a stall and chatting randomly about this and that. They weren't constantly together though; every now and then one of them would linger behind and the other would move on a bit further, and then they would meet up again.

On one of those occasions, Harima got engrossed in checking out a shop of motorcycle accessories – he was thinking of buying a pair of leather gloves – and Eri, too bored to wait for him, went off on her own. When he finally looked up he spotted her a little further down, checking out a street stall selling cheap handmade jewelry. He made his way towards her, but the noise of the street muffled his footsteps and she didn't hear him approach, absorbed as she was in looking at some trinket she was holding in her hand.

"…It's amber and obsidian," he heard the salesman say. "Quite a unique design too – you have good eyes, miss. Do you like it?"

"…It just reminds me of a dream I have," Eri said with a faint smile. She looked at it a little longer, then shook her head. "Maybe some other time," she said, and bowing politely she moved on.

After she had left, Harima approached the stall in turn, moved by a sudden curiosity. "Hey, could you show me what that blond girl was looking at just now?" he asked the salesman. The man gave him a puzzled look, but he pulled out one of the pendants hanging in rows and showed it to him. It was rather simple; from a thin silver chain hung two small stones, bound together in the middle by a silver link. One was smooth, with a honey-gold color; the other was jet-black and full of sharp edges. For a few minutes he just stood there thoughtfully, gazing at the two shiny stones in the palm of his hand, then he lifted his head and stared at Eri walking away with a strange expression on his face.

"How much is it?" he asked impulsively, turning back to the salesman. It wasn't expensive; and although he had no idea why, next thing he knew he had already paid for it and was sliding the tiny package into his jacket pocket as he rushed to catch up to her.

A while later, it was Eri who stayed behind browsing through some scarves and purses displayed at a shop's entrance while Harima, fed up with waiting, had gone on ahead. When she finally tore herself off (not before having bought a new scarf though) and looked for him, after a few minutes of searching she spotted his tall figure in front of a bookstore. There were some boxes of used books and manga arrayed outside, and as she came closer she saw he had pulled out a manga and was leafing through it.

"Is this one of yours too?" she asked, standing on tiptoe to look over his shoulder. A little startled, Harima half-turned to look at her and said, "No, this is 'Office Lady of the Three Kingdoms', Karasuma's last manga. The final volume came out a few weeks after he left for America…it's old news already." There was a great deal of sadness in his voice as he said that, and he glanced down at the volume he was holding with a despondent smile. "What a waste it'll be if he never draws again," he whispered.

Eri looked from him to the book, not quite sure what to say. "Is it really that good?" she asked curiously after a few seconds, craning her neck to take a better look at it. "I don't know much about manga, but it doesn't seem that different from the one you were drawing yesterday."

Harima shook his head. "To an outsider it may seem that way, but a pro knows the difference. Look at this." He flipped through the book and showed her an impressive, detailed battle scene spanning two full pages. "It would take me at least an hour and a half to draw this even now, last year probably more than that. Do you know how long it took him? Less than thirty minutes."

"Thirty min…you're not serious," Eri said in astonishment. "How do you even know this?"

"Saw it with my own eyes," he answered. "I filled in as his assistant a couple of times, and I happened to be there when he was drawing this scene. Hard to believe, isn't it? That's how much difference we have between us; I'm just a bit talented while he's a genius."

"Seems like he is," Eri said thoughtfully after staring at the pages for quite some time. "I had no idea…none of us had. I mean, we all knew Karasuma-kun was smart and everything, but nothing of that level. To tell you the truth…" she hesitated for a few moments, "…I always wondered why Tenma was so taken with him in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I think he's a terrific person, it's just that…he never stood out, never called any attention to himself. How should I say this…he didn't strike me as the kind of guy a girl would notice…but now I think she saw something in him the rest of us just didn't see."

Harima looked down for a bit; it was odd, but somehow he found talking about Tenma much easier than before; in fact, it was kind of relieving for him to share his thoughts on the matter with someone he knew would understand. "Yeah, I guess…Tsukamoto saw people differently than everyone else. That wasn't always good, let me tell you…God knows I've been through hell for it," he said, frowning a little. "But I think that's why she could get along with just about everyone…and bring out the best in them. Even in a delinquent like me…or a quiet weirdo like Karasuma. She has no idea what goes on inside people's heads and yet she can reach right into their hearts without even trying. Giving up on that…was probably the most painful part." His eyes were still filled with sorrow as he put the book back into the box and started walking again.

Eri let a few moments pass and then asked him, "Hige…you don't have to answer this if you don't want to…but I never understood why you decided to give up right after Karasuma-kun left. I mean…normally this would be your chance with Tenma, wouldn't it?"

He stared at her serious face pensively as they were walking slowly side by side. "Well, for one thing, even before that I had realized she could only love one of us, and it wasn't me," he said slowly. "Even so, I refused to give up as long as I wasn't sure whether Karasuma returned her feelings…but when I found out that he loved her too…then I knew I had no other choice."

Eri suddenly stopped in her tracks and stared at him hard. "And just how did you find that out?" she asked sharply. "He rejected Tenma before he left, he never told her that he loved her!"

"No, but he told me, right before he left," Harima said, and immediately felt a chill run down his spine as Eri's amber eyes glared at him furiously. "You? He told _you_? Why the hell should he tell you and not Tenma?" she asked, raising her voice to a degree that started to attract people's attention.

"Keep it down, will you?" Harima said, throwing worried glances around them. "We were kind of fighting it out and…I don't know, it brought us closer?" he tried to explain, still not daring to face Eri's glare though. "As for why he didn't tell Tsukamoto…I'm not really sure either, but if I had to guess I'd say he probably didn't want her to waste her life nursing him…he thought it would be best for her if she forgot about him…something like that."

"Men," scoffed Eri. "That's why I hate them; always thinking they're the center of the world, always believing they know better than anyone else. Who was he to decide what's best for Tenma? This was her decision alone, it wasn't anyone else's place to make the choice for her!"

"Hey, for the record I didn't agree with that either," Harima said, a bit incensed as well. "Why do you think I forced Tsukamoto to go after him in the first place? But it's not like I can't understand Karasuma's reasons for doing this. Men in love tend to do stupid things, and I suppose that includes geniuses too."

"Well, you of all people should know about doing stupid things," Eri said acidly. "Honestly, sorting out such important matters with a fistfight…talk about being immature, both of you." Then her eyes softened a bit as she went on to say, "But at least you did the right thing with Tenma, and now thanks to you she has a fighting chance at happiness. I suppose that's some sort of atonement." After a few moments of silence she added, "And don't worry, I'm not going to tell her about any of this. Karasuma-kun should be the one to confess his feelings to her…assuming he wakes up one day."

Harima nodded without a word, inwardly grateful for her understanding. She sure didn't cut him any slack, but he had to admit she was fair with him. Even when they disagreed, she would take his point of view into account as well…that was probably why he never hesitated to speak his mind to her. That and the fact that she was way too smart to fool, as he was reminded once again. One of the reasons he had taken the coward's way out and lied to Tenma about his feelings so many times was that he could afford to do it, Tenma was too naïve to see through him. But Ojou he could never hope to deceive, and so he had never bothered to lie to her.

For a while after that they just walked in silence, lost in thought. They were almost at the end of the shopping district when they snapped out of it and started talking again. "Guess this place is smaller than I thought," Harima said, taking a look at his watch. "We've walked through it already, and it's not even noon yet."

"Yes…it wasn't that much of an exercise, was it," Eri said. She looked around, and suddenly her eyes were drawn by a sign across the street. "But I bet we can work up an appetite there," she said, pointing at it.

Harima turned to look at the sign, and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "A batting center?" He gave Eri a sidelong glance. "Don't tell me you mean to challenge _me_?"

"What's the point in challenging someone weaker than me?" Eri said arrogantly. "Or are you afraid to take me on?"

No sooner had those words left her mouth than Harima's eyes flashed with that telltale sparkle, clearly indicating that he had taken on the challenge. "Just so you know, I won't go easy on you because you're a girl so don't come crying to me when you lose," he said, looking down at her defiant eyes. "Well, aren't you confident," Eri said. "Save your breath already and show me what you've got."

So they went inside and got a booth, and then Harima took his jacket off and grasped his bat, ready to begin. "I've got to hand it to you," he told Eri, "you sure got some guts going one-on-one against me." "Hey, if Mikoto could beat Asou-kun, I don't see why I shouldn't stand a chance against you," replied Eri, assuming position as well.

"Oh, so Suou has gone batting with Asou before?" Harima asked, a bit interested. "Yes, last year when they were dating," Eri said. "They were _dating_?" Harima asked astounded, turning his head towards her – unfortunately, just then his ball came flying but he didn't see it in time and his swing missed. "Strike!" was heard from the megaphone.

"You never even noticed, did you?" smirked Eri, her eyes focused on her own ball. She swung hard and an instant later on the scoreboard flashed the indication for 140 km/h. "This is what you get when you don't pay attention to what's going on around you."

"Thanks for the advice, but I haven't lost just yet," growled Harima with gleaming eyes. The next balls came and this time they both swung at 140 km/h. "And anyway, they never acted like a couple in school so I'm hardly to blame for not noticing."

"Well, I can't argue with that," admitted Eri as they swung at the next pair of balls – another tie. "They were never lovey-dovey around each other…it was more like friends hanging out together; at least that's the feeling I got from them."

"And why did they break up?" Harima asked as he swung again – damn, that Ojou had turned out to be one tough opponent. "Asou's a good guy, what could he have done to make Suou break up with him?"

"Actually he's the one who broke up with her," Eri said and swung in turn, putting in more effort this time – her arm was starting to get tired. "I'm not entirely sure what happened…it's not like they had a fight, and they did remain friends afterwards…maybe there simply weren't enough feelings between them." She shrugged her shoulders. "Or it just wasn't meant to be."

"Or maybe they were overthinking things and missed their chance," Harima said grimly. "I've done that often enough so I'm not one to talk, but…I think that when you're with a person you trust there's no need to worry about things too much; you should just…act." He gave his bat a mighty swing and a few moments later victory music blasted out of the megaphone. "Home run," he said, turning to Eri with a triumphant smile. "Beat that."

Eri tried as hard as she could, but her endurance was failing her already and ultimately her strength was no match for his. He hit another home run shortly afterwards, thus sealing his victory over her. However, when their final scores showed up on the scoreboard he didn't gloat over it at all, which made Eri turn to him with an expectant look. "Aren't you going to say 'Told you so'?" she asked a little petulantly.

"Oh, I think the numbers speak for themselves," he said in a teasing voice, then in a more serious tone, "Besides, that's not going to make me feel good about myself or anything. You faced me fair and square and gave it your best shot…and I respect that. Why would I want to make fun of your effort?"

Eri shrugged a little. "I don't know…to teach me a lesson maybe? To show me that I'm not behaving like a girl is supposed to? You know, most guys dislike girls who don't act all weak and sheltered."

"If you put it that way, most girls dislike guys who do what I just did," remarked Harima as they headed for the counter to pay for their game. "If I were a gentleman I would've let you win, but I'm not, so I didn't. Do _you_ have a problem with that?"

"No," Eri said without hesitation. "I challenged you exactly because I knew you wouldn't coddle me, and if I won it would have been a fair victory. If I had a problem with you not being a gentleman, I wouldn't be here right now."

"Same goes for me," he said simply, staring down at her as they stood outside the center's entrance. For a few seconds they stared at each other without saying anything, when suddenly the silence between them was broken by two simultaneous loud stomach growls, and both of them chuckled sheepishly.

"Well, I think we're hungry enough now," Harima said with a slight smile. "Come on, there's a good place not far from here," and he led the way.

Eri followed him and indeed soon afterwards they arrived in front of a small restaurant; the storefront looked old and not very well kept. "It's kind of run-down, but their ramen is great," Harima said. Eri was a bit doubtful, but she decided to trust him on this and followed him as he opened the door and walked inside.

"Well, if it isn't Ken-chan," a man's cheerful voice sounded as soon as they stepped in. "Haven't seen you in ages." A man in his forties with an average, jovial face and a cook's attire greeted Harima from behind the counter. "Hey there old man, how's it going?" Harima greeted back.

"Don't call me old, you brat! It's mature, mature!" the man said in mock anger. "You're about ten years past mature," Harima said jestingly. "So, you got a free table?" he asked, casting a look about the place; even though it wasn't much to look at, there were quite a few customers in.

"What do you need a table for, you always sit on the counter…oh, I'll be damned," the man said as he noticed Eri standing next to Harima. "Ken-chan, you sly son of a bitch," he said, making as if to swat Harima with a towel he was holding. "Hiding such a cutie from me all this time…you were afraid she'd fall for me instead, is that it?"

"Old man, I think your age's finally caught up with you," Harima said, barely managing to contain his laughter, while Eri next to him was beet red from embarrassment. "Quit spouting nonsense and get us…what would you like?" he asked, turning to Eri. "You should try the pork ramen, it's really good."

"I'll have that then," Eri said. "And a spicy beef ramen for me," added Harima and guided her to an empty table he spotted in a corner.

"Is he a friend of yours, that man?" Eri asked hesitantly when they sat down. "Kazuma? Yeah, I guess so…I've been stopping by to grab a bite after work a lot this year, and we got to know each other. Don't mind the way he talks; he's kind of forward, but he means no harm. Plus he makes the best ramen ever."

"Oh, I don't mind…I'm sure he was just joking," Eri said, although in truth she did feel a bit awkward. Nothing overly unpleasant though; this was probably just what it seemed, fooling around among friends. And it felt rather nice to see Hige do that; making jokes, enjoying himself…it was something she didn't get to see often. Most of the time he was rather moody and it was refreshing to see him in such good spirits for a change. But more than that, she realized once again that there was a lot more to him than it seemed at first glance. Back when she first started getting interested in him, she really could not understand what had possessed her to be attracted to that empty-headed ape of a man who only cared about fighting. But as she got to know him little by little she had started catching glimpses of the kind heart that lay beneath the rough exterior. She had found out that although he had no manners, he was the most considerate and caring man she had ever known. And she was still discovering more unexpected aspects of him; even now she was learning that he was a person who had a sense of humor, who found pleasure in simple things, and who created beautiful images with his two hands alone. Unconsciously she looked down at his hands resting on the table…and then for some unknown reason she caught herself wondering what would those skillful hands feel like, roaming all over her naked body…_Geez, what am I thinking in the middle of the day?_ she thought, agitated, and quickly bent her head down and pretended to look for something in her purse to hide her embarrassment. Fortunately the arrival of the man called Kazuma who came over to their table with two steaming bowls of ramen in his hands was enough to distract her mind from those improper thoughts.

"Here's your order," he said, placing the bowls in front of them. "And by the way, allow me to introduce myself properly," he turned gallantly to Eri. "I'm the owner of this establishment: Sugimoto Kazuma, thirty-seven years old, at your service."

"Thirty-seven years old…you mean without counting the summers, right?" snickered Harima, stifling a laugh behind his hand. "You, shut it," said Kazuma, swatting him with his towel again. "I'm sure the young lady appreciates the charm of a mature, respectable businessman, isn't that right, miss?" he said, turning to Eri again. "…Umm…" Eri blushed once again; she knew he wasn't hitting on her for real, but she still wasn't sure what to say that wouldn't sound rude. But then Harima came to her rescue in a very unexpected way.

"Hey, hands off, old man," he said with an amused twinkle in his eyes. "We're engaged." Eri looked up at him startled, instantly forgetting her embarrassment, while Kazuma turned towards him, completely dumbfounded. "No way," he said incredulously. "A classy girl like that engaged to a good-for-nothing like you? Come on, you're pulling my leg, admit it."

"No, it's…it's true, we really are engaged," Eri suddenly found her voice. Kazuma turned to her again in wide-eyed astonishment. "For real? What on earth did you see in this piece of bad news?"

"Hey, didn't you know that bad boys are all the rage these days?" Harima said with a smug smile. "Anyway, that's how it is, so get back to your kitchen already and let us eat that ramen before it gets cold."

"Why you little rascal…" Kazuma gave him another playful swat and retreated to the kitchen, leaving them alone. "Hey, did I say too much just now?" asked Harima, leaning a bit over the table to look at Eri. "You seemed to be having a hard time so I thought this would make him back off, but maybe you didn't want me to say that we're…"

"No…it's not like you lied or anything, so it's okay," Eri said, blushing yet again. On one hand she was happy to hear him acknowledge their engagement in public, on the other she didn't like being reminded once more that it was a fake. But her feelings for him were real…and it was up to her to make that engagement real one day as well.

"Anyway, let's dig in, I'm famished." She picked up a mouthful of noodles with her chopsticks and tried it, and immediately her eyes widened in delight. "Oh my God, this is delicious!" she exclaimed and eagerly dug in her bowl again.

"Isn't it? No need to waste money on decoration when the food's this good, right?" Eri nodded in agreement with her mouth full and he smiled, watching her gulp down the noodles with such earnest enjoyment. She didn't look anything like an Ojou-sama right now, but he preferred to see her like this – spontaneous and unaffected. It was at such unguarded moments when he found her most appealing, in fact too appealing for his peace of mind. Like now…as he was looking at her, he suddenly had a fleeting vision of her kneeling before him, and using that tiny, cute mouth of hers to suck something a lot more indecent than ramen. _Damn, I'm turning into a total lecher, aren't I,_ he thought shamefacedly and hurriedly turned his attention to his own bowl.

"If my old governess could see me now," Eri said cheerfully after a while, in the midst of slurping her noodles. "Did you know that in England it's considered rude to eat like this?"

"Like what?" "You know, like this," and she slurped another mouthful. "You're not supposed to make any noise while you eat."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," remarked Harima. "How are you supposed to show your appreciation for the food if you don't make any noise?"

"Well, that's how things are over there," Eri said. "When I came to live here I had to learn a whole new set of table manners – it was such a pain," she added, shaking her head.

"That's right, you lived in England until you finished middle school," Harima said. "Must have been completely different from here, right?"

"Well of course there are a lot of differences, but believe it or not some things are the same," Eri said. "For instance, people drink tea every day there too…and the rich families have real maids and butlers in their homes. Most of the kids in my school had, anyway."

"So you went to a school for rich kids, huh?" he asked. "Why do you sound so surprised? Isn't it a given that I would go to a school for rich kids?"

"For you, yes, but this guy Max I fought with on the field trip last year…you said he was your classmate, and frankly I don't see how he could afford a school for rich kids."

"Oh, Max and the other two were only there because of Shawn," Eri said. "I have no idea how he got them admitted – probably had his daddy pull some strings to get them in. Nobody knew why he wanted them there, although I'm guessing he wanted to have some goons around to do his dirty work for him."

As she said those words her voice was dripping with contempt. Harima felt a bit bad for Max; he knew the guy had a crush on her, but she had never noticed it. She was hardly to blame for that though, seeing as Max always treated her with excessive harshness and wouldn't even admit his feelings for her. With his idiotic conduct he had pretty much dug his own grave in this matter; then again, who was he to talk about acting stupidly around the girl he liked, Harima thought bitterly. But at least he had tried to confess his feelings time and again, even though every time either his luck or his courage would betray him. Max had never done that, instead he had chosen to forever watch the girl he liked from afar…Harima wasn't sure whether he should call that brave or stupid.

"That guy Shawn…he was there on the trip too, wasn't he?" he asked Eri. "I never got to see him, but I remember some girls running their mouths off about him, saying he looked like a prince or something."

"Prince my foot," sneered Eri in the same contemptuous tone. "He's just a spoiled kid with too much time and money on his hands for his own good. It's not just Shawn, though; most kids in my old school were like that. Never had to work for anything in their lives, and all they cared about was playing stupid games to pass the time."

"What kind of games are you talking about?" Harima asked curiously. "Come to think of it, you said that Shawn needed Max to do his dirty work – what dirty work would he need to get done?"

"Oh, all sorts of things; trying out illegal stunts to see if they could get away with them, ganging up on people who rubbed them the wrong way, you name it," Eri said scornfully. "They got a real kick out of seeing how they could pull whatever crap they wanted without ever getting punished, and they made a point of crushing whoever tried to stand up to them."

"Don't tell me they tried to bully you too?" Harima asked, unconsciously clenching his fists. "Do I look like the kind of person who would tolerate bullying?" Eri said proudly. "Besides, my family was too powerful to mess with; usually they would push around people who weren't able to defend themselves against them. But just watching them was sickening; I didn't want to associate with any of them. So I kept to myself, and after I graduated and my father suggested that I move to Japan, I was only too happy to leave the lot of them behind for good."

"So…you never had any friends during middle school?" he asked again. Ironically, during that time he didn't have any friends either; he had run away from home, pretty much dropped out of school and his days were filled with nothing but fights. It was one thing he'd never thought he'd have in common with her.

"No, I didn't," Eri said quietly. "That's why I enrolled to a regular school when I came here. My parents wanted to send me to some exclusive private school again, but I insisted on going to the local high school – and fortunately my father thought it would be good for me to 'learn the ways of the common people', or so he said. To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure I would make any friends here either; I thought everyone would look down on me because I looked and spoke like a foreigner…But then I found Tenma, Mikoto and Akira and they became my friends…the best friends I could ever ask for," she said with an affectionate expression on her face. "Before meeting them I thought I didn't mind being alone, but now I know my life would have been bleak and empty without them."

Harima looked at her for a few seconds with that familiar inscrutable expression. Surprisingly, it seemed that despite their differences they had been through similar changes; two lonesome individuals who had learnt to make friends and open up to others in the very same place. Moreover, after having heard about Eri's past, he could understand why she was always so tough and guarded around most people. After having witnessed the ugly side of humans so closely and at such a young age, it wasn't at all surprising that she had a hard time trusting people. Knowing that despite all this she had come to trust him enough to share such private, not to mention disagreeable, experiences with him…it meant the world to him, and he resolved once again that no matter what happened between them he would never betray her trust.

During the rest of their meal they talked about other things; the school, Harima's work, things they liked to do in their free time, their favorite foods…in general, learning things about each other they didn't know until then. Before they even realized it they had already spent a couple of hours eating and talking.

"So, I suppose we'll head back after this," Eri said, taking a honeyed dumpling out of a plate they were sharing for dessert. "It's getting late, right?"

"Yeah, I guess." Harima looked out the window; the sun wasn't setting yet, but it had begun to slope towards the west. Then an idea occurred to him and he asked her, "Say, do you mind if we make a stop on the way? There's something I'd like to show you."

"Sure, no problem," Eri said and put another dumpling in her mouth, at the same time licking a drop of honey off her lips; and Harima wondered why did he get this sudden desire to trade places with that dumpling.

Soon afterwards they bid the owner farewell and walked back to where the motorcycle was parked. Then they set off for home; on their way back Eri was trying to guess where they would stop and what was it that Hige wanted to show her. But she was taken completely by surprise when he pulled over in front of that very shrine where she had found him collapsed last spring.

"So…what is it you wanted to show me?" she asked, puzzled. "Up there," he said, pointing at the steep stone stairway. He started going up at a fast pace and she followed; after several minutes they reached the top of the stairway, which was also the top of the hill. "I…I still don't get what this is all about," Eri said, panting a little; the ascent was quite tiresome, especially after such a long day. Without a word, Harima turned her around to face away from the shrine and towards the town.

The view was breathtaking; the entire town and the surrounding countryside were visible from there, stretching as far as the eye could see. The sun was setting and the horizon was painted red and gold, and the outlines of the distant hills stood out against the clear sky. "It's…beautiful…" Eri whispered in awe.

"…Yeah, it is." For a while they just stood there silently, taking in the view, then Harima said, "Why don't we sit down for a sec before we head back down…you got a bit tired climbing all the way up here, didn't you?" and sat down on the stone landing at the top of the stairway without waiting for an answer. Eri fidgeted a little; "I suppose I wouldn't mind some rest, but…it's gotten kind of chilly and it's going to be cold sitting on the stone, isn't it?" she said, wrapping her coat more tightly around her.

"Then sit here, it should be warm enough," he said calmly, pointing at the space between his legs. Eri's face flushed for the umpteenth time this day and she looked like she was ready to explode or at the very least bolt and run back down the stairs. Harima quickly averted his eyes from her, regretting having made such a rash suggestion. _I knew it, I went too far…Oh boy, am I going to get it this time._

"O-only because it's cold…and you better watch where you put those hands, you got that?" he heard her say all flustered, and he lifted his head to look at her. "I know." He tried his best to appear calm; he wanted to be calm, this wasn't supposed to be a big deal – but for some reason his heart was pounding like crazy.

Blushing more furiously than ever, Eri approached him warily and sat gingerly between his legs with her arms defensively folded in front of her chest. As soon as she had sat down he wrapped his own arms around hers, careful not to touch anywhere he shouldn't. "Is this okay?" he asked her.

"…Yeah, I suppose so," she muttered, her cheeks still glowing red. How was she supposed to stay calm when he was holding her so intimately…but she didn't want him to stop. Maybe if they started talking again she would feel more at ease, she thought. "It's…really peaceful up here," she said after a few moments.

"Right? You can see the whole town, but it seems so far away," he said thoughtfully. "Whenever I just want to get away from everything, I always come here," he added, as if talking to himself.

"…Then, that day too…you were trying to get here?" Eri asked hesitantly. "…Yeah," he said after a short pause. "I wanted to climb all the way up like we did now, but my strength failed me and I ended up collapsing at the foot of the stairs. But…I think it was for the best," he went on, turning his head to the side to meet her eyes. "If I had made it up here you wouldn't have found me."

As he said that, unconsciously his arms tightened around her, pressing her even closer against him. He had never forgotten that day; Ojou had managed to do what no one else had, she had got through to him and singlehandedly pulled him out of the abyss before he was lost for good. No words could describe how grateful he was for what she had done, but he wanted to convey to her how much her presence there meant to him; and if he couldn't do it with words, he could show it with his actions.

Eri felt her body heat up even more as his hold around her tightened, but she didn't say anything. Being with him like this…it was such a unique sensation, at the same time calming and exciting. She could feel his gratitude and affection, and also his willingness to open up and share his feelings with her. Today they had learnt a lot about each other, seen a lot of each other's sides…and she for one had not been in any way disappointed by what she had seen. She wanted him to know that…and actions speak louder than words, right? Slowly, she leaned back against him and rested her head on his shoulder, although she still faced the other way, not daring to look into his eyes. _He says he's not a gentleman, but he's so manly and yet so gentle,_ she thought. _And I want him…I want him so much it hurts._

Harima felt her movement and his face flushed in turn. It was really unbelievable; not so long ago the only reason she would touch him would be to punch him, but now she was cozily nestled against him, welcoming his warmth…And he who until recently thought of her only as someone who pissed him off had become so attached to her; last year he couldn't care less what she felt about him, but now he got such a rush whenever he saw evidence of this affinity between the two of them. He leaned a bit closer and his breath ghosted over her pale neck, and she shivered – he saw it, and he knew it wasn't because of the cold, it was because of him. He exhaled and his breath caressed her skin again, turning it from white to a lovely shade of pink. _So adorable…God, I just want to push her down and make her mine right here, but I mustn't…I mustn't, not until I'm one hundred percent sure about this. If I mess up again…if she gets hurt because of me, then I deserve to die a thousand deaths._

"What are you thinking about?" he asked softly. Eri shivered again; simply _hearing_ that deep, husky voice whisper in her ear made her feel like she'd melt into a puddle any second. Good thing they were sitting down or her legs would've given way for sure. Trying her utmost to pull herself together, she finally said, "…I was just recalling that time last winter when we went downtown…and found ourselves in the middle of a snowstorm without any money, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," he said, giving a low, throaty chuckle. "What a disaster that was; it's a miracle we didn't freeze to death. Seems funny now, but back then I was seriously getting desperate; I was at my wits' end what to do to make it through the night."

"Yes, I was really scared too…but it was also a bit like an adventure, wasn't it? Maybe it felt that way to me because I had never been in such a predicament…but in a way it was kind of fun."

"For me, it was more fun this time around," he said. "You don't really get to enjoy yourself when you can't have anything to fill your stomach or to keep away the cold. When I go out I want to have a good time, not worry about surviving."

Eri sighed. "Yes, I suppose it's not that romantic when you think about it realistically," she said. "And it's not like I have to be in a near-death situation to have fun." She looked away for a second, then turning again towards him she asked, "So…what was it you liked the most about today?"

"Well…" He deliberated for a few moments, then said, "I guess…that I got to know more about you." For an instant he gazed into her eyes silently and then asked in turn, "What about you?"

"…I got to hear you laugh." It was a sound she had never heard even once last year; and even those few occasions when she had seen him smile it was brief and bitter. But this year, as time went by she saw his smile more often, and today she had even heard him laughing, not loudly to be sure, but it was real laughter, untainted by bitterness. She really loved the sound of that; she was certain she'd never get tired of hearing it.

"Yeah, well, I didn't have many things to laugh about until now," Harima said. Or more like, he had too many things to be sad about, he thought to himself. "But who knows…that might change one day."

"Let's hope so." She leaned her head on his shoulder again and they both turned their eyes towards the setting sun, now almost below the horizon. A sunset…signaling the end of a day, but also heralding the beginning of a new one. So is life; full of endings, but it never actually stops; each ending is just the harbinger of a new beginning. Even though they weren't conscious of it, somewhere deep down both of them knew that they had left an ending behind and a beginning was waiting ahead of them.

"It's getting late, we should go back down before it gets dark," Harima said eventually. They got up and headed back down the stairs; when they got to the road, Eri suddenly stopped in front of the pillar where she had found him several months ago. For a second she stared at it fondly; in a sense, it was where it all had begun, the turning point in their relationship. Harima, who had moved on a bit, sensed she had stopped and turning around, he walked back to her with a questioning look. "Hige…I would like to thank you," Eri said as her eyes met his. "I had a really great day today."

"My pleasure," he said with unusual gentleness. "It was fun for me too." He paused a bit and impulsively reached out and caught the tip of one of her pigtails between his fingers. Fiddling with it awkwardly he said slowly, looking down at her, "…If you want…we could do this again sometime."

Eri's eyes lit up joyfully at his words and she looked back at him smiling happily. "Yeah," she said simply, "I'd like that." Harima took in the joyous expression on her face and could not help smiling in turn; it was strange, but as he gazed at her bright, open smile, for a few seconds there, it was as if the wound in his heart had never been.


	8. Chapter 8 Field Trip

**Chapter 8 note:** Sorry for the long wait everyone; to tell you the truth I wasn't very enthusiastic about this chapter, since it is the only one where our favorite couple doesn't make an appearance. Still, it had to be written – why, you ask? Well, stick with me and find out! Anyway, you'll get a lot more of Eri and Harima in the next chapter, I can promise you that at least!

**Chapter 8 – Field Trip**

Kyoto was very cold at night, Yakumo thought.

It was already the fourth day of her class' field trip. On the whole, the days had passed very quickly between visits to the monuments and temples, an excursion to the National Park – the deer were so cute when they came to eat out of her hand – souvenir shopping with Sarah and the girls in their free time and so forth. In general Yakumo had spent most of her time with her female friends, much to the disappointment of the boys in her class. On the other hand, Hirayama-kun had spent the greater part of the trip alone; technically he was in a group of five too, together with Kitagawa-kun, Sotomura-kun and two other boys, but since all of them except him happened to have girlfriends the group was hardly ever together, seeing as the other boys wanted to spend as much quality time with their girlfriends as possible. He didn't seem to mind being alone though; during the daytime Yakumo occasionally caught glimpses of him wandering about the ancient temples and the beautiful landscaped gardens, observing them silently with his usual aloof expression. Every now and then he would pull out a notebook and scribble something in it, earning himself quite a few curious glances; Yakumo had barely refrained from smiling when Miki had wondered aloud whether he was writing a love letter to a secret crush. She knew very well he wasn't writing any letter; in fact he wasn't writing at all, he was jotting down musical notes for the pieces he was constantly working on. Funnily enough, even though lots of things about him were still a mystery to her, lately his behavior made a lot more sense than before, especially since she had started making an effort to learn more about him.

After their collaboration at the culture festival they had grown a bit closer – nothing too pronounced, but the time they spent together had increased, if only by a little. For example, at some point Yakumo had found out that he sometimes stayed in school after class to practice his pieces in the music room, and ever since then she would stop by every so often when she didn't have her club or part-time job to go to and listen to him playing for a while – his music never failed to move her just as much as the first time she had heard it. They didn't talk much during that time and when they did it was mostly about general subjects; Yakumo had yet to find any more clues as to how Hirayama-kun had discovered her special ability. Nevertheless, she somehow enjoyed this time she spent with him; she liked that he respected her privacy and never tried to force confidences out of her or even worse, smother her with his attentions like most other boys of her acquaintance. And even though she was just as incapable of reading his thoughts as ever, gradually his personality became less of an enigma as she discovered bits and pieces of information about him during their conversations. It was mostly small and apparently insignificant things, like how he had first become interested in music after hearing Karasuma-san's pet canary sing; or how he disliked spicy curry but still ate it together with his friend – he had been quite amazed when he heard from Yakumo that her sister had done the exact same thing. Oftentimes she thought that although most people would find his attachment to Karasuma-san kind of creepy, she had never once thought that; rather, it reminded her of her own attachment to her sister. Oddly enough, even though she was still ignorant of many things about him, she felt she could relate to him in a way she had never felt before and had never imagined she could feel with a man.

What could this feeling be, she frequently caught herself wondering lately. It wasn't the same as the feelings she had for Harima-san, but somehow it seemed…significant. Could it be that there were many kinds of love or attachment after all? Yakumo had never considered this before, but now that she thought about it, it certainly seemed that different people loved in different ways.

Take, for example, that conversation she had with the girls two nights ago. It was the second night of their field trip, and they had retired to their rooms. Yakumo and the girls had changed into their nightclothes and were just about to turn in, when Miki emerged from the bathroom with a mischievous grin on her face. "Hee hee…don't tell me you think we're going to sleep, Yakumo-san…" she said.

"Wh-what else could we possibly do?" Yakumo asked in astonishment. "What, you say…isn't it obvious? What kind of field trip would it be if we didn't stay up all night and have a girl talk?"

"Oh come on Miki, you can't seriously expect us to stay awake all night; we'll be half dead tomorrow," Satsuki said yawning. "And anyway, what are we going to talk about all night long?"

"Sa-chan, do you even need to ask that?" Miki said in shock. "There's only one thing to talk about in an overnight girl talk: love!"

"Love? But what should we say about love?" Haruna asked, bewildered as well. Miki put a finger in her mouth and thought for a bit. "How about this…we'll all take turns and talk about our love interests, and no one is allowed to back out!"

Evidently there was no getting her to change her mind about this, so as soon as the girls were settled in their futons (lying face down so that they could face each other) Miki started with the girl talk immediately. "Let's see then…you go first, Sa-chan," she said. "Huh? Why does it have to be me?" Satsuki protested, blushing. "Well we have to start somewhere, don't we? Soooo…how's it going with Asou-senpai, huh? Now that he's broken up with Suou-senpai there's nothing stopping you from going after him, is there now?" she added, playfully elbowing her friend.

"Well…I don't know about that…" Satsuki said awkwardly, blushing even deeper; like most people, she found Miki's direct questioning hard to handle. "I mean, he's a very nice guy and I still admire him…but sometimes I think that if he likes girls like Suou-senpai he wouldn't go for someone like me, you know?" she concluded, looking a bit crestfallen.

"You know, this isn't like you, Sa-chan," Miki said with a sudden seriousness. "Usually when you're aiming for something you don't give up no matter what, and you're always confident about your abilities. It's rare to see you so insecure."

"I know…that's probably because in this case the outcome doesn't depend on my abilities alone," Satsuki said thoughtfully. "Besides, nowadays I don't even get to see Asou-senpai very often after he withdrew from coaching the girls' basketball team. Sarah-chan here is the one who gets to see him all the time at her part-time job," she added a little enviously.

"That's right Sarah-chan, you've been working together with Asou-senpai for two years now," Miki said enthusiastically, jumping at the chance to grill a new target. "Don't tell me you two have been getting along all this time and we don't know anything about it?"

"No, no such thing," Sarah said hurriedly. "Asou-senpai is a valued colleague of mine, but I never had that sort of relationship with him. Actually I've never thought about any guy that way yet…maybe it's because I was raised in the convent, but love and all that always felt sort of out of place for me."

"You mean that because you're going to become a nun you feel you shouldn't do those kinds of things?" Haruna asked; Yakumo turned towards her friend as well, curious about her answer. "It's not exactly that…I mean, it's not set in stone that I'm going to become a nun yet," Sarah explained. "The Mother Superior has left that choice to me; she said that I should get a proper education and see what the world is like first, and then decide if I want to become ordained or not. So I'm going to be a normal girl until I finish my college education at least. As for having romantic relationships…it's not like I'm expected to remain celibate, although of course the sisters do expect me to lead a virtuous life. I just haven't felt like starting something like that with anyone just yet."

"Well, maybe that'll come later…it could be that you just haven't met the right person yet," Satsuki said. "After all, Haruna here too is a late bloomer…we've been friends for years and I've never heard her say anything about liking a guy."

"What – is that true, Haruna?" Miki asked eagerly, and Haruna nodded. "But that's so weird…unless…" She raised her head as a thought occurred to her. "Don't tell me you have a brother complex? I mean, your Onii-chan is cool, although he can be a bit of an oddball too, but…"

"No way," Haruna cut her off resolutely. "I know this kind of thing happens often, but not in my case. I just haven't felt that way towards anyone, like Sarah-chan. And because dating anyone would be complicated with my father being a secret agent and all, I only want to do it when I feel really strongly about it."

"That's just like you, Haruna – so cool-headed," Satsuki said pensively. "Well…now that we cleared that up, guess whose turn it is, Miki," she said, turning to her friend gleefully. "After all, you're the one who's so passionately in love with Hanai-senpai, so now you're going to tell us all about it."

"Oh – right, I guess I have no choice," Miki said with unexpected bashfulness. "But really, I don't know what to say…you all know I like Hanai-senpai, so what more could I tell you?"

"For instance, you could tell us what it is you like so much about him," Haruna said with a smile. "What it is I like about him…? Well…for one he's super smart, and he'll definitely go to a good university and land a great job in the future…and he's very good-looking too, especially if he takes off those glasses…but more than that…it's because he's so serious, I guess? He's the kind of reliable guy you can always count on…and I don't know, it makes me feel kind of safe."

"There's no accounting for tastes, I suppose," Satsuki remarked at the end of Miki's speech. "To tell you the truth, I never expected you to fall for a serious guy; I always thought you'd go for a lively person such as yourself. This must be that 'opposites attract' thing we always hear about."

"But isn't it hard to be in this kind of unrequited love?" Haruna asked. "I'm not saying this to make you feel bad, but surely you can't deny that Hanai-senpai has never shown much interest in you."

"Of course he hasn't, seeing as he's completely obsessed with Yakumo-san," Miki said cheerfully. "But she'll reject him eventually, and then I'll be there to comfort him and he will realize what a catch I am. All I have to do is wait for my chance to come up."

"But what if Yakumo doesn't reject him?" Sarah asked half-jokingly. "What are you talking about, Sarah-chan, of course she will," Miki said. "He's definitely not her type, right? After all, Yakumo-san likes Harima-senpai, and he's Hanai-senpai's complete opposite!"

The four girls' eyes turned towards Yakumo, who blushed in turn and started fidgeting uneasily. "You know, Yakumo-san, I've always wondered about this," Satsuki asked her. "Now that I've gotten to know him better, I know Harima-senpai is a good guy, but still…for someone as reserved and shy as you are…honestly, you are the last person I'd expect to fall for a delinquent."

Yakumo looked down awkwardly; she couldn't very well explain to the girls that what had made her interested in Harima-san was the fact that she couldn't sense his thoughts. "It's just that…at some point I realized that even though he gives off a bad first impression, when you get to know him you can see he's a lot different…a lot more than just a delinquent," she said in a very low voice. "It's just a matter…of not misjudging him based on how he looks."

"I know what you mean," Sarah said. "Harima-senpai sure is scary and foul-mouthed, and to be frank when I first met him I was a bit afraid of him, but after we started living together I understood that he's actually a very easygoing, gentle person. Now, the only fault I find in him is that he's always so clueless about everything."

"So he still hasn't realized how Yakumo-san feels about him, eh?" Miki asked, frowning a little. "And here I thought that after she'd started hanging out with Hirayama-kun he would at least notice her more. Too bad nothing came out of that in the end."

"Well, not exactly nothing…at least Yakumo-san made a good friend in Hirayama-kun, right?" Haruna said. "After the culture festival I've seen you guys talking together in the music room a couple of times and you seemed to be having quite a good time."

"Ooh, nice going Haruna…just what you'd expect of a secret agent's daughter," Miki said with a grin that gave Yakumo a very bad feeling. "Soooo…care to tell us what this is all about, Yakumo-san? Could it be that you got tired of waiting for Harima-senpai to get a clue and decided to switch to Hirayama-kun instead?"

"…It's not about…switching or anything like that, Inaba-san…" Yakumo said, her voice getting lower and her blush deeper by the second. "…There's nothing going on between me and Hirayama-kun…I…just enjoy hearing his music, that's all."

"Well, he does play beautifully," admitted Satsuki. "Too bad he doesn't like playing in public that much. But seriously, all you do is listen to him playing? You don't even talk?"

"…We do, sometimes…mostly about Nee-san and Karasuma-san…we both miss them so much…" Yakumo said wistfully. The girls nodded in understanding; all of them were well aware how much Tenma's departure had affected Yakumo, although the fact that her sister was finally happy was a great source of comfort for her. Hirayama-kun's fondness of his childhood friend was no secret either; all of them had heard him speaking of Karasuma-san at some point or other and it was pretty evident he missed him terribly too. "I suppose it's understandable for you to talk about this, seeing as you love those two so much," Miki said. "But it's a bit of a let-down…I mean, you're such a great girl, Yakumo-san, and all the boys would kill for you to spend time with them…and yet all Hirayama-kun can think about is Karasuma-senpai? Shouldn't he pay a little attention to you as well?"

"Miki, don't tell me you expected him to confess to Yakumo-san just because they've talked once in a while," Haruna said. "Not everyone falls in love at first sight, you know." "Well maybe not confess, but he should at least show a little admiration," Miki said stubbornly. "If you ask me, they've spent plenty of time together already. They went to the beach together, and they were on the same team in the horse-riding battle, and even at the culture festival. All this time, he's never said anything romantic to you, Yakumo-san? Not even once?"

"N-no…I can't say that he has," replied Yakumo immediately. "But you know, Hirayama-kun isn't the sort of person to make love declarations for everyone to hear like Hanai-senpai," Sarah said thoughtfully. "And with that poker face of his, he could be in love with someone for years and no one would be the wiser. It's just not possible to tell what he's thinking."

_Too true,_ Yakumo thought; by now she had pretty much despaired of ever being able to read his thoughts, so ultimately she had no way of knowing how he felt about her. Unless, of course, she asked him directly; so far he had never refused to answer any question she asked of him, but how could she ever ask such a thing? It was impossible! And yet the more time she spent with him, the more obvious it became to her that the only way of getting answers out of him was asking questions. He never told her anything about himself on his own, but whenever she asked him he would always answer her. Was it possible that…if she could only muster the courage to openly ask about what she wanted to know he would tell her, just like that? Would he answer a really important question just as easily as he answered all those everyday questions so far?

"But what about you, Yakumo-san…what do _you _think of him?" Satsuki asked suddenly. "Can you see him as a boyfriend, someone you can share your whole life with, like Harima-senpai?"

Upon hearing this Yakumo raised her head abruptly; somehow this question reminded her of something she'd be wondering about for a long time now. Satsuki and the girls assumed that she liked Harima-san in every sense of the word; that she was willing to share anything and everything with him. But the truth was that she was still holding back; he was still in the dark about her secret, and she didn't even know if she would ever have the nerve to tell him. And absurd as it sounded, Hirayama-kun who by all accounts didn't have any actual relationship with her apparently knew more about this matter than the man she supposedly liked. She even believed he was better suited to hear about it; wasn't it abnormal to trust a stranger more with her biggest secret than the person she had feelings for?

"…I…I don't really know…in the first place, I'm not even sure what a boyfriend is supposed to be like," she said awkwardly. Then turning towards Miki she asked in turn, "Inaba-san…you said just now that the reason you like Hanai-senpai is because he's reliable…does that mean you trust him then?"

"Why, yes, of course," Miki said, kind of surprised. "Isn't it a given that you should trust your partner? I for one wouldn't want a two-faced guy, that's for sure."

"Yes, but…can you trust him with anything…anything at all? If you had an embarrassing secret…would you still tell him about it?"

"Well, it depends on what you mean by embarrassing," Miki said, hesitating a little. "Hanai-senpai can be a bit stuck-up about morals and all that…although I kind of like this side of him as well. But if it was something really important then yes, I suppose I would tell him. I would want my most cherished person to know anything of consequence about me…besides, if he really loved me I believe he would accept everything about me, regardless of what others think."

So if you truly love someone you can be completely honest with him and tell him what you can't tell anyone else? Yakumo wondered. She would have liked to talk about this more; although she was embarrassed to discuss love relationships at first she realized that talking about them with her friends helped her gain more insight on them. But unfortunately just then the patrolling teacher passed by their room and they were forced to turn off the lights and go to sleep. But while the other girls fell asleep immediately, Yakumo stayed awake for quite some time, thinking over and over about that conversation they just had. She had been impressed by how differently her friends approached love – Miki's cheerful confidence, Satsuki's insecurity, Haruna's level-headedness, Sarah's optimism for the future…this was the first time she realized that this thing called 'love' might have a whole different meaning for each person. But even if their take on love was different, nevertheless love was equally important to all of them. Perhaps it was the same for men as well, she now thought for the first time. Until then, Yakumo had heard all manner of love declarations, both out loud and in men's thoughts, but being always distrustful of men as she was it had become a habit of hers to indiscriminately lump them together as indecent without bothering to distinguish between them. But perhaps this wasn't all that fair in the long run; perhaps she, too, ought to consider more carefully what exactly 'loving' someone entailed.

Now, two days later, she was by herself for a change. Because winter days were much shorter it was already dark outside, although it wasn't that late yet. Sarah and the girls had gone back to the hotel, tired after their souvenir shopping spree, but Yakumo didn't feel like being confined there just yet – it was so crowded, and the boys were very noisy – so she went for a walk on her own. Fortunately nobody had seen her take off; otherwise she'd never be able to enjoy her stroll in peace with her hordes of admirers on her tail.

Although she had told the girls she was just going for a walk, she actually had a specific destination. It was a place not included in their visits with the school, but one she wanted to see no matter what; that little shrine where you would write your name and the name of the one you wanted to be with on a paper charm, hang it on the deity statue, and then your love would be granted. Since last year already Yakumo was very curious to see that shrine. She had heard a great deal about it from her sister; after she returned from her field trip, Tenma had been going on and on for hours about how Harima-san and Sawachika-senpai had filled out a charm together and hanged it there. "Do you think the shrine will make their love come true, Yakumo?" she had asked with her usual naïve enthusiasm. "I've always rooted for you to be with Harima-kun, since you're my precious little sister and all…but still, it would be so romantic!" Yakumo on the other hand had never been able to understand how such a thing had come to pass; she was positive that if Harima-san were to fill out a love charm he would write no other name but her sister's on it, so how on earth had Sawachika-senpai's name wound up on his charm? If the two names were written by the same person she might have considered the possibility that Sawachika-senpai had written the charm without him knowing about it, but on the photo Tenma had shown her it was evident that the two names were written separately. Even now it was still a mystery to her; and although she knew that going there wasn't going to enlighten her any further, she still wanted to take a look at the place. There were lots of things in this world that defied logic, as she knew first-hand; maybe the shrine had powers that could set her on the right path as well.

From afar it looked more like a haystack than a shrine, with all those hundreds of paper charms hanging all over it. As she got a bit closer she tried reading some of the names written on the charms, but as expected they meant nothing to her. Harima-san's charm was nowhere to be found, of course; after a whole year there was no way it would still be visible. It was probably buried under dozens of other charms; not that finding it would have made any difference, she didn't think she'd see anything more than what she had already seen on the photo. She lingered about the place a while longer, circling around it and checking it out from every angle, but she could find nothing of significance about it. As for hanging a charm there herself…she had thought about it, but she felt she should sort out her own wishes first before asking the deity for help. After a while of going in circles around the shrine she began feeling a bit silly about it and decided to head back to the hotel; really, what was she expecting to find? But shortly after she had started on the way back, she saw a familiar light-haired head emerge from a side street a little ahead of her. Hirayama-kun didn't see her though and for a few seconds she just watched him walk away in front of her; then on a sudden impulse she called out to him.

He turned around and saw her, looking a bit surprised, and then walked back to her. Yakumo was a little apprehensive as she saw him approach; she was wondering about so many things, especially after having that conversation with the girls. And was it really just a coincidence that she had met with him exactly when she had come to this place looking for answers? So far Yakumo had never relied on divine interventions and such, but somehow this unexpected meeting seemed kind of fateful to her.

"Tsukamoto-san? What are you doing here?" he asked her in mild surprise. "I…was out for a walk, Hirayama-kun, and I was just heading back to the hotel now," she answered. "What about you?"

"The same; I got tired of waiting for Kitagawa and the others, they'll probably be with their girlfriends for some time yet; so I thought I'd take a stroll until it's time for dinner. I went up that hill," he pointed at a dark shape some distance behind him. "The view of Gojo-Ohashi bridge with the lights on is great from up there, have you seen it?"

"No…I went that way," replied Yakumo, pointing in the direction of the shrine, and Hirayama-kun raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Over there? I don't recall any temple or monument being in that direction…" he said, kind of puzzled. Although he didn't ask what she was doing way over there, for some reason Yakumo felt the need to give him an explanation. "It's not anything famous…just a place I kind of wanted to see," she said, blushing a little. "It's a shrine that's supposed to fulfill your love if you put a charm on it. Nee-san said a lot about it last year, so I thought I'd check it out."

"Oh, I see," Hirayama-kun said with his usual calmness. "So, what did you think of it?"

"…Well…it wasn't anything much, really…although I didn't really know what to expect…Do you want to see it too?"

But Hirayama-kun shook his head. "No, not really," he said. "I don't believe in relying on others about such matters, even if it is the gods."

"You mean that…you'd never turn to someone else for help if you had such troubles?" Yakumo asked impulsively. Actually she was surprised by her own boldness – normally she'd never bring herself to ask a guy such a question – but for once her curiosity prevailed over her shyness; she really wanted to see whether he would answer such a personal question.

"The thing is…I don't have anyone I could turn to in the first place," Hirayama-kun answered without any apparent hesitation. "If Ooji-san was around of course I would seek his advice, but from the looks of it I can't depend on that for some time yet," he went on gloomily. "But you know…no matter how much we consult with others, at the end of the day it all boils down to how we feel about the person in question, and no outsider can change that…at least that's what I think. It's up to us to get our feelings straight and decide what to do with them…nobody else can do that for us."

_But how do we decide that,_ Yakumo wondered silently. She cast her mind back again to that girl talk two nights ago, and especially to what Miki had said about trusting your partner. She found that she agreed with her on that; she, too, wanted someone she'd be able to trust even with her innermost secret; someone who would accept everything about her, no matter how weird or shameful it might be. And for some reason she suddenly felt the need to know if Hirayama-kun could be such a person – if he could be someone trustworthy enough to open up to. And there was only one way to ascertain that: she had to confront him and see for herself just how sincere he was willing to be with her. Embarrassing or not, there was no other way.

She stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him. "Hirayama-kun…this may be a bit sudden, but there is something I've wanted to ask you for some time now," she said in one breath; she was keenly aware that if she didn't speak her mind now she'd probably never work up the courage to do so again. "You may find my question kind of strange, but nevertheless I would appreciate it if you answered me honestly."

"I have never lied about anything you've asked me until now, Tsukamoto-san, and I don't intend to start now," he said in a very serious tone. "If for whatever reason I am unable to answer your question I will say so, but in any case I will not lie, that you can be sure of."

Yakumo drew in a deep breath. "All right, then…what I want to know is…Back at the sports festival, when you said that I knew about the plan to snatch my headband because of my 'female intuition'…Did you really believe that?"

"No, I didn't," Hirayama-kun replied immediately without so much as batting an eyelash. "I only said that because there was no time to give you a proper explanation, and it would be bad if you were to panic unnecessarily. Ever since we first met I knew that what I called your intuition was in fact the ability to read people's minds."

Yakumo stared blankly at him for a few seconds, stunned beyond words. Ever since they first met, he said…then he couldn't have heard about it somewhere by accident. But more than that she was astonished by how calm he was about it; even if he had all this time to get used to it, encountering someone with telepathic abilities wasn't exactly ordinary, and yet he acted like it was no big deal. But she certainly couldn't be equally calm about all this; a million questions flooded her mind and she just couldn't contain them anymore. "How? How did you know that?" she practically demanded, still reeling from the shock of this revelation. "Are you…the same as me?"

"No, I don't have this ability," he answered readily with the same calmness. "Then how?" Yakumo demanded again, all her bashfulness forgotten. "I'm positive you didn't hear it from anyone, so how did you know?"

"That…would be impossible to explain in a few words," he said slowly. "It's a long story." "Then the sooner you get started the better," Yakumo said with uncharacteristic persistence; this wasn't at all like her usual docile self, but this matter was far too important to her, and after having heard something so sensational there was no way she'd settle down again before she got to the bottom of this.

Seeing how important this was to her, Hirayama-kun nodded in assent. "Very well…let's take the longer route back, and we can talk on the way." They started walking again and for the first few minutes he was silent; then abruptly he started talking.

"Like I said, I don't possess the ability to read people's thoughts like you do." He paused for a second and then went on to say, "My late mother did, though."

Yakumo stared at him in astonishment; she had often wondered whether there were other people like her out there, but she had never actually expected to find one. "So…you're saying that your mother could read men's thoughts too?" she asked, amazed.

"Men's and women's both; as long as the thoughts were about her she could read them," Hirayama-kun answered. Frowning a little he added, "I'm sure I don't need to tell _you_ this, Tsukamoto-san, but this ability made life very difficult for her."

Yes, Yakumo could definitely understand that. "Of course…she could read whatever anyone thought about her, no matter how indecent," she said, recalling her own unpleasant experiences.

"It wasn't just that," Hirayama-kun said, still frowning. "How do I put this…you know how sometimes you get angry even with a person you generally like, or someone you're close with…a family member, or a friend…And you may end up thinking bad things about them, if only for a short while…But you don't say them out loud, because deep down you know that this is not what you truly think of them…it's just a result of your anger and it will pass soon enough; and you don't want your relationship to suffer because of something so unimportant. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes…I believe I've felt that way too," Yakumo said slowly. She understood that feeling all too well; when she was younger she often lost her patience with her older sister's clumsiness, and entertained some really nasty thoughts about her at those times; and yet she tried her utmost to hold them in because she cherished her sister's unconditional love for her. At first she had felt guilty to the point of despising herself for thinking that way about her sister; but eventually she had realized that no matter how much you love someone it's still possible to get angry with him, and it didn't necessarily mean that she was a bad person for doing that.

"Now, imagine a person who could read all those unsaid thoughts coming from everyone around her; her family, her friends at school, the boy she had a crush on…What do you think this would do to her?"

"She would be hurt," Yakumo said with a pained expression. Such a situation would be even worse than her own predicament, she thought; even if she had to tolerate hearing a great deal of indecent thoughts, at least all of them were positive; those men were attracted to her, so they would think good things about her. It would be a lot worse if she could hear negative thoughts as well, there was no denying that. "She would think that everyone around her was lying to her…she might even lose her ability to trust anyone."

"Exactly," he said darkly. "That's what happened to my mother; believing she was being deceived time and again, little by little she lost any faith she had in other people. As the years passed by, she withdrew to herself more and more and by the time she got into high school she didn't associate with anyone around her; she only attended school because her parents insisted on it, but she didn't want anything to do with her classmates. And as you can imagine, her being so unsociable made those around her have even more negative thoughts about her, and reading those thoughts made her even more depressed. It was a perfect vicious circle, and as far as she could see there was no way of escaping."

"That's how things were, and as expected going to school was becoming more and more trying for my mother with each passing day," he went on. "Until one day during her first year of high school, something happened that changed her life forever."

Yakumo said nothing, just kept looking at him with eyes full of interest. After a short pause he carried on, "There was this girl in my mother's class – she wasn't anything out of the ordinary, really – she was rather smart and bookish and a bit of a loner too, although by no means an outcast. Mother hadn't noticed her all that much; she had sensed thoughts from her a couple of times – nothing too horrible, things like 'what's with that girl, why doesn't she talk to anybody' – but by then she had come to believe that everyone around her despised her and she didn't think that girl would be any different. Anyway, one day after school she was crossing the street without paying attention because she was feeling depressed, and didn't see a car heading straight for her. It would've definitely run her over, but that girl suddenly sprang in front of her and pushed her out of the way, saving her life."

"Luckily neither of them was seriously injured; but the incident left a very deep impression on my mother's mind. She could not understand how come a person who hated her would go so far as to endanger her life in order to save her. So the very next day she went to find that girl, not only to thank her but also to find out why she did so much for her; but the answer she got took her completely by surprise."

"When my mother asked her about it, the girl's jaw literally hit the floor – to use her own expression. 'Hate you? It's true we didn't have much to do with each other until now, but I never hated you. What on earth made you think that? I've never said anything bad to you, have I?' is what she asked. And for some reason my mother felt she owed her an explanation; it was probably because she felt guilty about thinking so badly of a person who had saved her life. So to make amends for that, she told her all about her telepathic ability. Up till then she had never revealed this to anyone, but somehow she felt she could trust her to protect her secret just like she had protected her life."

"It would be a lie if I said it wasn't a huge shock for that girl when she heard about Mother's ability," he went on. "But she was more open-minded about it than most people in her place would have been; even though she had never encountered such a thing before she understood how it had caused my mother to become distrustful of people. She saw how she had become lonely and miserable because of it, and she didn't want to let her cope with that burden on her own anymore. 'If that's the case, all I have to do is be completely honest with you; then you'd have no problem being my friend, right?' And that's how my mother made her very first friend – a friend who was always by her side ever since then." He paused a bit again and then added, "That girl's name was Shirokawa Reina – later to become Karasuma Reina."

"Karasuma-san's mother?" Yakumo asked in astonishment. "That's right, you've said your parents were friends for a long time, so that's how they got to know each other…But I still don't understand what all this has to do with what I asked you…"

"Patience, Tsukamoto-san, I'm nowhere near finished yet," Hirayama-kun said. "Like I was saying, after becoming friends with Aunt Reina my mother's life became a lot better. For one thing she had someone she could talk to about her troubles and that in itself was a great comfort; but more than that, she finally began to understand that she shouldn't take all the thoughts she heard to heart so much; that not everything people thought had the same significance. But still, she had a hard time trusting others; she had no way of knowing which of their thoughts represented their true feelings, and that caused her a lot of trouble. In the end, she concluded that this 'ability' of hers was more of a hindrance; that as long as she had it she would never be able to form any relationships with other people, and now that she had Aunt Reina and had seen what it was like to have someone by your side she didn't want to be lonely anymore. She wanted to try and reach out to other people too, without constantly worrying whether their thoughts matched their words and actions. So after the two of them finished high school, they went their separate ways for a few years. Aunt Reina had good grades and got into a prestigious college; my mother on the other hand wasn't such a good student, so she decided to get a job. But before doing that she wanted to cure her condition; so she went and secluded herself to a Buddhist temple for three years. During that time she learnt meditation and mind control techniques which enabled her to suppress her ability; or to put it more simply, she learnt how to create a 'barrier' that prevented other people's thoughts from reaching her. I understand it wasn't completely fullproof; she could still sense the most intense thoughts, but the insignificant ones didn't reach her anymore. That way she no longer confused transient negative thoughts for hatred and she was able to get along with people much better that before; she was finally able to live a more or less normal life."

"During her time of isolation she had never seen Aunt Reina, but they had kept in touch with letters. When mother left the temple they met up again; my mother went to the city where Aunt Reina's college was and got a job there. She wasn't any good at studying but she had a real talent in making sweets, so she became a pastry chef at a cake store. They even moved in together and shared an apartment for a couple of years, until Aunt Reina got married. About a year later my mother married as well; but even after getting married they were still very close. As I've told you before, our houses were very near, and I and Ooji-san practically grew up together."

"Which brings me to your question about how I knew this secret of yours," he said, turning his head to look at her. "You see…I did not inherit my mother's telepathic ability…but rather the opposite of it. I cannot read anyone's mind…but I can always tell when someone is trying to read mine."

"Believe me, I know how strange it sounds," he hastened to add, catching Yakumo's dumbfounded expression. "But I've had this gift since birth – I've no idea why, just like my mother had no clue why she was born with her ability. In any case, because of this power of mine I always knew whenever Mother was trying to read my mind."

"Your mother was trying to read your mind?" Yakumo asked, puzzled. "I thought you said she couldn't read people's minds after her training at the temple."

"No – her training merely suppressed her ability, it didn't make it go away," Hirayama-kun explained. "When she wanted to, she could remove her barrier and read people's thoughts again. She never did that before she had me, but in my case she made an exception. As a mother she was protective of me and wanted to make sure I was happy, and to appease her worries she would pry into my thoughts. But I didn't like it, as you can imagine; I resented that I could not keep my thoughts private, that my mother could read me like an open book whenever she wished. Eventually Mother realized my resentment; and I must say she was very understanding about it. She told me it wasn't fair that I had no way to safeguard my privacy, and she taught me in turn the techniques she had learnt at the temple. That way I learnt how to create a barrier of my own, not one to keep other people's thoughts away like Mother's, but one to keep my mind closed to other people. It took me some time to master this skill, but when I was done Mother could no longer read my mind unless I permitted it."

So now at least the mystery of that static had been resolved; and so had the mystery of how Hirayama-kun knew about Yakumo's mind-reading ability. Furthermore, she could now understand why he had taken it so calmly – it was something he was already familiar with. Besides, he didn't have to worry about Yakumo reading his thoughts since he could counteract her ability with his own. In a way it was about the same situation as with Harima-san, but with one big difference: Hirayama-kun knew all about her secret…and now she, too, knew all about his secret as well. Even considering that her mind-reading ability wasn't something new to him, Yakumo still found it hard to believe that he had told her something so important so easily. "May I ask…who else knows about all this?" she asked hesitantly.

"My parents did, of course," he said. "Then Aunt Reina and her husband, and Ooji-san…and now you."

Very few people then – well, that was to be expected, this wasn't something to be shouted from the rooftops. "So Karasuma-san knew…and he never said anything about it? He was never bothered by…something so unusual?"

Hirayama-kun shook his head. "Ooji-san is the kind of person who accepts everything about people without judging them for it. I'm sure that, to him, my ability was no more significant than a mole or a scar. It was a relief, but also kind of bothersome, you know…sometimes I got the impression that he never felt strongly about anything." He smiled a little. "Turns out, it needed someone really special to bring out his feelings…someone like your sister."

Yakumo nodded slowly in agreement and for a few minutes both of them were silent. Then Hirayama-kun turned towards her and said, "Can I ask something _you_, now, Tsukamoto-san?"

Yakumo nodded again and he asked, "What you said before…I understand your ability is a bit different from my mother's. You…can't read everyone's thoughts, correct?"

Yakumo blushed deeply; this was so embarrassing to talk about, but since he knew so much already she might as well be frank with him; moreover, it felt good to be able to talk about this with somebody who could understand it so well. Sarah had been very open-minded about it too and she had never looked down on Yakumo because of this…but not even she could fully comprehend it since she had never experienced such a thing. "…Yes…that is…I can only read the thoughts of men…" she said in a shaky voice. "All men?" Hirayama-kun asked again and Yakumo shook her head. "…No…like your mother…I can read men's thoughts if they're…how do I put it…thinking about me," she finally managed to say, marveling at herself for saying that out loud.

Hirayama-kun seemed to understand what she meant. "I see…no wonder you could reach into my mind too. I was so surprised when I felt a mind-reader's presence on our first day in class, especially when I realized it was you of all people…Even so, since I managed to raise my barrier in time, I believed that my feelings were safely kept out of sight…but it seems that wasn't enough."

Yakumo stopped in her tracks and stared blankly at him again. What was that about his feelings…what did he mean by it? Then suddenly it hit her: all this time she had never been able to read his thoughts, but she had always sensed thoughts coming from him. And she could only sense the thoughts of men who were attracted to her, like she had told him just now…But then that meant…

"Wait a second…are you saying that you are attracted – to me?" she asked, completely dumbfounded. Hirayama-kun stared back at her in surprise. "What – you only realized just now? How can that be, when you know you can sense men's thoughts as long as they are attracted to you?"

"But – you weren't like the others – I couldn't read your thoughts even though I sensed them," Yakumo stammered, still struggling to work her mind around all these unexpected revelations. "Besides, I could sense your thoughts since the very day we met…how was I supposed to imagine that you were attracted to me when you didn't know a single thing about me?"

Hirayama-kun sighed deeply. "This is not at all how I had planned to confess my feelings, but since the cat's out of the bag anyway there is no point in hiding anymore. Tsukamoto-san…the truth is that even before I came here I knew a great deal about you, and I was very interested in you."

"You…knew about me? Where from?" Yakumo asked, more astonished than ever. "From Tsukamoto nee-sama, of course," he replied. "Aside from Ooji-san, who do you think she talked about the most? Even though we spent only a short amount of time together, she told me so much about her amazing little sister that I felt like I knew you in person long before I even set eyes on you. Look," he said, pulling his wallet out of his pocket and opening it. "She even gave me this."

What he showed her was a photo of her taken by Tenma when Yakumo had just started high school, after the entrance ceremony. Yakumo was really happy that day because she was going to go to the same school as her sister again, and she was smiling when the photo was taken – something very rare for her. It was a beautiful picture and Tenma was very fond of it, she carried it around with her wherever she went; so it was no little surprise for her that she had decided to give it to a person she barely knew. "Nee-san…gave you that photo?" she asked in disbelief. "Why? Did you tell her…that you have feelings for me?"

"No, I didn't go that far," he said. "But…when I saw that picture I was so captivated by it…I couldn't take my eyes off of it. And then Tsukamoto nee-sama said out of the blue, 'If you like this picture so much, Hirayama-kun, you can have it; I've got tons of others pictures of Yakumo! She's really great to look at, my little sister, isn't she? But you know, she's even greater in person!' and she gave it to me just like that." He smiled a little and looked down with an unusually embarrassed expression. "You know, to this day I haven't figured out yet whether she realized how I felt. Sometimes I think she never had a clue, sometimes I think she had understood everything right from the start and that's why she encouraged me to come here…even though she appears dense at first glance, at times I believe your sister is the most insightful person ever."

Yakumo could not help smiling as well – she, too, had been often astounded by Tenma's odd mixture of naiveté and brilliance. Then suddenly she thought of something else and she raised her head to look at him again. "Hold on…if Nee-san told you so much about me…then surely she must also have told you…" She stopped short, her cheeks reddening once more; she had spoken with him about heaps of things she thought she'd never be able to talk about with a guy, but this was one subject she didn't think she'd have the nerve to talk about with him.

"About Harima-senpai? Yes, of course she told me about him too," Hirayama-kun said, completely unperturbed. "Tsukamoto nee-sama seemed certain there was something going on between the two of you…But you see, even before I met her I had heard about him from Ooji-san's letters, and they told a very different story. So I decided not to give up just because of that and to reserve my judgement until I actually came here and met him in person."

"And once you met him…what did you think of him?" Yakumo asked, genuinely interested; for some reason she really wanted to hear his impression of Harima-san.

Hirayama-kun gave another slight smile, and the look on his face was a lot like admiration. "The first time Ooji-san mentioned Harima-senpai in his letters, he described him as 'ridiculously honest'," he said. "I cannot think of a more fitting description." He paused a bit and then added, "To tell you the truth, I didn't really know what to expect of him; Ooji-san seemed to think very highly of him, which was a bit strange – until then he had never been so impressed by another man. Tsukamoto nee-sama on the other hand…most of the time she considered him to be a good person, but every now and again she would say things like 'he is a monkey' and such, although I'm not sure what she meant by that. It was a bit confusing, really…but after I met with him at your house and talked to him I understood why Ooji-san had been able to become friends with him, even though up till then he had never made a single friend except me. He is the kind of person who's not afraid to speak his mind to others and who will stick to his choices regardless of what people say. He doesn't care whether those around him like him or not, nor does he care about appearances. I believe Ooji-san got close to him because he knew that even if Harima-senpai found out about his disease he would still treat him the same as before."

Yakumo nodded in agreement – she, too, felt so much at ease around Harima because she believed in his sincerity – she believed that he would always be upfront with her no matter what. _And yet, even though he's upfront with anyone else, he couldn't be honest with Nee-san…maybe there is such a thing as caring too much about someone._

"Yes…Harima-san is very straightforward about his feelings…most of the time, anyway," she said slowly. Then, turning to look at him she added, "You weren't, though; you felt this way about me all this time but you never said anything – why?"

"Because I didn't want to blow my chances, of course," he said calmly. "I had heard from Tsukamoto nee-sama that you had always been very awkward around men and the last thing I wanted was to scare you off right from the get-go. Besides, even though I was very interested in you, I know that often people are very different in person so I was determined not to get my hopes up too much before I actually met you. And when I did…I've already told you how shocked I was when I realized you could read my mind. And if you could read my mind, you could probably read other people's minds as well, and judging from my mother's experience I understood how that could make you suspicious of them. Just like Tsukamoto nee-sama had said, a lot of our classmates tried to get your attention but while most girls would be pleased with that you seemed rather spooked instead. It was obvious that if I acted the same way I would only push you away; if I wanted to have a chance with you I would have to earn your trust before revealing my feelings. So I decided to become your friend first and let you see me for who I am before saying anything; I figured this was the only way you could ever come to accept my feelings for you."

Yakumo looked down, unsure what to say; all those revelations were rather overwhelming for her. After a brief pause Hirayama-kun added, "Tsukamoto-san…maybe it was just my wishful thinking, but I believed you had come to trust me at least a little after all those months we've known each other. But if you don't…there is a way to see for yourself if I'm telling the truth. If you wish it, I can lower my barrier and let you inside my mind; then you can know for sure if I'm lying or not. But to be honest…I would prefer it if you could trust my word on this," he said, looking at her earnestly. "It would mean a lot to me if I'm someone you can believe in that much."

Yakumo stared back at him for a few seconds; tempting as it was to take a peek inside his mind for once, she didn't really feel the need to make such a demand anymore. She had to admit Hirayama-kun had been perfectly honest with her, even though he could very well afford to keep hiding; he hadn't run away from her or from his own feelings. But she had no clue how to answer him; so far she had turned down every confession she had received without hesitation, but this time she couldn't find it in herself to reject him outright. And yet she had to give him a reply – she didn't want to lead him on, but both 'yes' and 'no' at the moment didn't feel quite right.

"I…believe what you say is true," she finally said slowly. "But…I don't know how to answer you right now…it's horrible of me, I understand that…but I really don't. I honestly don't want to toy with your emotions, I don't want you to suffer because of me…but…"

"It's okay, Tsukamoto-san," Hirayama-kun said gently. "I don't want an answer anyway."

"You don't?" Yakumo asked in astonishment. "No, I don't…at least not right away," he reassured her. "Look…this is rather presumptuous of me, I suppose, but I believe I know what's troubling you. You…haven't sorted out yet how you feel about Harima-senpai, am I right?"

"How did you know…?" Yakumo asked, shocked yet again; for someone who could not read her mind Hirayama-kun certainly seemed to know his way around it very well. "It's a no-brainer that you feel differently about him than you do about other men," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Even before I came here I expected it to be so; for all her tendency to misunderstand things, Tsukamoto nee-sama would not think there was something going on between you two without any reason at all. And when I saw you together…it was evident that he was the only male around here whose presence didn't disturb you. You were a great deal more comfortable around him than with anyone else; it made me wonder how come you weren't upset by his thoughts in particular."

"That's because…all this time I've known him, I've never sensed any thoughts from him, not even once," Yakumo said in a low voice. Hirayama-kun stared at her for a few seconds, obviously taken aback, then he slowly nodded in realization. "Of course – he was in love with Tsukamoto nee-sama," he said. Then, furrowing his brow, he asked again, "But what about after she left – after she chose Ooji-san over him?"

"Still the same," Yakumo said. "I know – I know what this means," she suddenly burst out. "If he saw me that way I should be able to tell, like with all the others. But then he's so kind to me and he doesn't scare me and he always looks out for me – there's something to be said about that too, right? I can't believe – I just can't believe I mean nothing to him!"

She stopped abruptly, realizing it was rather rude of her to speak of these things with someone who had just confessed his love for her. "I – I'm sorry," she said, looking away in shame. "I don't know what came over me – I should know better than to talk to you about another man…the last thing I want is to hurt your feelings."

"Don't worry about it, Tsukamoto-san…you haven't said anything I didn't already suspect," he said with the same kindness. "If anything, I'm glad you trust me enough to share this with me, and besides now that I know how things stand between you two, I know how to help you get out of this mess."

"…Help me? You mean with Harima-san?" Yakumo asked incredulously. "Wouldn't that defeat your purpose?"

"That's not what I meant…The way I see it, you obviously have some sort of feelings towards Harima-senpai, and he has some sort of feelings towards you. But there are many kinds of feelings among people…and until you know exactly what kind yours are, you will not be able to move forward. I'm sure you realize that as well."

Yakumo nodded, understanding what he meant and he went on, "So…like I said, I don't want an answer from you right now, but in return I want you to answer something else. Not to me, but to yourself."

"What is the question?" Yakumo asked. "It's two questions, actually…One: what is Harima-senpai to you? And two: what are you to Harima-senpai? Think long and hard about this, Tsukamoto-san; and when you know the answer to that…you will also know the answer to my confession."

"And you're just going to wait for me to figure out the answer?" Yakumo asked in disbelief. "You know I'll be thinking about someone else…and you don't mind that at all?"

"That's because I'm not an idiot," Hirayama-kun said directly. "It would be unreasonable of me to ask you to erase all your previous feelings and start loving me out of the blue. And if you're not sure who you want to be with, you'll never be happy with me or anyone else for that matter, and I wouldn't be happy with you either. If you ever answer my feelings I want you to do so with all your heart, otherwise there's no point. You need to be honest with yourself before you can be honest with me."

Yakumo was really impressed by his attitude; until then everyone else had never given any thought about the way she felt; they just tried to shove their feelings down her throat one way or another. It was amazing how considerate he was and how well he understood her; no one, not even Harima-san had been able to see so deeply inside her heart. The least she could do to repay his kindness and sincerity was to comply with his request; not to mention it would do her a world of good to finally sort through her feelings. "I will do what you asked of me, Hirayama-kun," she said, looking straight at him. "I will think about this very seriously…and when I have my answers I promise to let you know immediately."

"That's enough for me," he said simply, and without any further talking they went back to the hotel. The next day, on the plane back home, Yakumo looked out the window and down at the landscape below; the monuments looked so different from up there than when she was walking among them. Perhaps…that was what she needed as well: a clear, detached, objective view of her feelings and the feelings of those around her. Only then…would she know for sure what to do from now on…and how to find happiness.


	9. Chapter 9 Deadly Valentine's

**Chapter 9 – Deadly Valentine's**

Today's last class, PE, was finally over and another school day had come to an end. Harima had just finished changing back to his uniform and was on his way to class to get his things and head home. About halfway there he stopped and glanced out of the window for a bit; it wasn't raining today but the sky was heavily laden with dark clouds which obscured the quick-fading light even more. A typical winter day; cold and bleak, just like his mood. Only this time it wasn't his own problems getting him down, but someone else's.

Almost two months had passed since that memorable outing with Ojou – it was winter then too but it hadn't felt like winter at all. Although cold, it was sunny; but above all it was her presence warming him up and making him forget his troubles. After that day he was more than willing to see her again and get to know her even better, and he knew she wanted that too. Unfortunately, Fate had other plans.

A few days after the weekend they spent together the school closed for winter break, and a couple of days afterwards Eri got a phone call from her father. At first she was really happy to hear from him – neither of her parents had called her for several days now – but when she heard what he had to tell her she wasn't happy at all.

Apparently her father was in the middle negotiating an important business deal at the moment, something about contracting the construction of a cruise ship – she had heard Nakamura mention it a couple of months ago but she had a lot on her mind at the time and hadn't paid much attention; it wasn't anything unusual anyway, her father was always in the midst of some project or other. But it seemed that this time he had a hard time closing the deal because there were other corporations competing for the contract as well. Eri, however, still could not understand what all this had to do with her – it wasn't like she was involved in the project in any way. When she asked her father about it, for several moments he was awkwardly silent, as though he didn't know how to get to the point; then choosing his words carefully he started explaining the situation to her.

"It seems that…not all of our competitors are fighting fairly for this deal, Eri," he said slowly, with evident stress in his voice. "There are some who would stoop to underhanded tactics to get this contract."

"Father, please, explain yourself; you're scaring me," Eri said, seriously worried by his tone of voice. Her father however was still hesitating and it took quite some time to get him to tell her what was going on. Apparently some indirect rumors had reached her father, according to which one of his rivals intended to have his daughter kidnapped in order to force him to back out of the deal.

"And you don't know who would do such a thing?" Eri asked, alarmed; brave as she was, it was impossible to hear that someone was out to kidnap her and act like it was nothing. "I'm…not entirely sure," her father said. "I do have some suspicions, but as you can understand a man in my position cannot make groundless accusations; that would discredit both the family name and the group. Besides, the police cannot take action before a crime is actually committed. Therefore the only thing to be done is to make sure you are kept safe until the deal is closed."

So, to ensure her safety during that time, her father instructed her to limit her outings as much as possible and whenever she did go out to have Nakamura with her at all times. Moreover she was not to go to school alone anymore – until then most of the time she went there on foot – but to have Nakamura take her in the car in the morning and then pick her up as soon as classes were over.

"I realize all this is very hard on you, Eri," her father said after finishing with his instructions. "I'm very sorry to impose such restrictions on your freedom, but it is necessary for your safety. You understand, don't you?"

"Yes, Father," Eri said dutifully; she was feeling quite miserable about all this, but she loved her father and didn't want to cause him any more worries than he already had. "I will do as you told me; you don't have to worry about me."

"Thank you," her father said. "You're always such a good girl. I promise I'll do my best to finish this as soon as possible, so that you can get back to your normal life. Anyway, we'll talk about this more when we get there next week; your mother and I will come over for Christmas, although we can't stay for long. Is there anything in particular you want for a present this year?"

"Oh, whatever you pick is fine, getting to see you and Mother is more than enough," Eri said joyously, elated at the prospect of spending Christmas with her family. "I see, then I'll make sure I pick something nice," her father said, pleased to hear her happy again. "Now, put Nakamura on the phone, I have some instructions for him."

However, after her joy about her parents' arrival had subsided, Eri's mood took a turn for the worse once again. No matter how she looked at it, she was in for a very lonely and depressing winter break. She couldn't go hang out with her friends; it would be way too awkward and inconvenient to go shopping or to a café with her butler tagging along. Nor could she go to their houses for a sleepover, for the same reason. Granted, they could still come to her house, but it was a bit out of their way and they probably wouldn't be able to come too many times; during the holiday season they ought to spend time with their families as well. And of course going out with Hige was out of the question; there was no way they could enjoy a date with Nakamura breathing down their necks. He didn't dislike Harima, in fact it was quite the opposite, but nevertheless they wouldn't be able to talk freely in front of a third person.

But there was no getting around it, so the very same evening after talking to her father Eri called him to inform him about how she wasn't allowed to go out and why. It wasn't easy for her but it had to be done; it would be rude of her to let him make plans only to have them cancelled at the last moment. Normally she wouldn't tell an outsider about her family circumstances so easily, but she knew he wasn't the type to go blabbering about it and besides she didn't want him to think she was avoiding him or anything like that.

"Are you serious? Man, what a bummer," he said as soon as she was finished explaining the situation to him. "I'm sorry," Eri said sadly. "And after you took the trouble to ask me out too…but…"

"Are you stupid? I'm not talking about that," he scolded her. "I'm saying it sucks to get involved in this kind of thing all of a sudden. I know you're tough, Ojou, but this must be scary, even for you."

Eri was moved by the concern in his voice; he understood her worries so well but he didn't give her any useless pity or treat her like a porcelain doll. "It is, a little," she admitted. "But hopefully it'll be over soon, and I believe I should be safe enough as long as I do what my father says."

"Sure, you should do that; what's important is to stay out of danger for now, there'll be time to have fun after this thing blows over. Anyway, I think you'll be safe if you stick close to that butler of yours; he may be a weirdo but he's damn good at his job, I'll give him that."

"Nakamura's not a weirdo!" Eri protested.

"He is too! I mean, what would _you_ call some huge guy with a moustache who likes dressing up as you?"

"W-well he may be a little eccentric that way but he does no harm, right?"

"Is that what you think?" Harima said gruffly. "Have you any idea what a shock I got when he ambushed me in your bath dressed as you?"

"He did not – !" Eri cried in disbelief, although deep down she was certain it was the truth. Back then she remembered Hige saying something about Nakamura being 'a bit different' but she hadn't understood what he meant by it; but now the meaning behind those words was all too clear. "Oh yes he did," Harima insisted. "And what about that time at the hospital? I even had to shove a finger in his butt – do you even know how traumatic that is for a guy?"

"Well you weren't the only one to suffer because of that!" Eri said in a huff. "Tenma saw you when you were treating Nakamura and then she went and told the girls you were groping _my _butt; how humiliating do you think that was for me?"

"What, for real? Well, I should have known; rotten timing, the story of my life," Harima said sullenly. "But why the hell didn't you tell them it wasn't you?"

"I did but they didn't believe me," sighed Eri. "And truthfully, I can't blame them; I wouldn't believe such a story either, it's too impossible."

"Yeah, of course they wouldn't believe you, not with my luck," he said, still sulking. He wasn't really angry though; he couldn't change what was done anyway, and besides thinking back on it, all those situations seemed kind of funny now, even though they had caused him so much pain back then. "What was he doing dressing up as your lookalike anyway? The skirt I can understand since he was hurting and all, but why the wig that looks like your hair? It's not like he can pass for a girl from up close!"

"…You know, I'm not sure about that either; he just does it every now and then," Eri said. They carried on chatting about this for a while longer, and at some point Harima noticed that Ojou sounded a lot better than at the start of the call; maybe talking like this was helping her get her mind off her problem even for a short while, he thought.

"…Anyway, again I'm sorry for blowing you off like that," she told him again before hanging up. "Hey, don't worry about it," he said gently. "No matter how I look at it you're the one who's in for a tough time, what with having to stay cooped up inside and all that."

"Yeah, I don't like it either but it can't be helped," Eri said. "Well, at least my parents are coming over for Christmas; it'll be great to see them again after all this time."

"Oh, that's good to hear," Harima said, a bit relieved to hear her a little happier. After a brief pause he asked hesitantly, "…Say…is it all right if I give you a call tomorrow? I'm kind of worried about all this and I'd like to check up on you if it's not too much of a bother."

"Oh…no, it's fine, I don't mind," Eri said, feeling both happy and flustered by his request. Seeing that he cared so much meant a lot to her, and moreover that way she would at least get to hear his voice; somehow after talking to him she wasn't as depressed by her predicament as before.

He did call and so from the next day on a long-distance relationship of sorts started between the two of them. Every day, usually around evening when they weren't busy with anything, either the one or the other would call and they'd talk for a while; no more than a few minutes usually, but both of them enjoyed it even if neither of them said so. They didn't talk much about Eri's problem; every time Harima would ask her once if there was any change – there wasn't – but apart from that he didn't mention it so that she wouldn't get any more depressed and they would talk about other things instead, like their everyday news or all that weird stuff which had happened to them last year – both of them had a lifetime's worth of those. For some reason Harima found it liberating to talk about that; the more he realized how idiotically he had behaved back then the more determined he became to mend his ways and not make the same mistakes as before. "You know, I only realized just recently but I was a complete ass last year, wasn't I," he told Eri during one of those phone calls.

"Yes you were," she agreed immediately and he frowned a little. _Geez, did you have to say it so bluntly, Ojou?_ "But more than that…it was how you always exaggerated about everything," she went on. "Every time you suffered a setback you acted like it was the end of the world; you'd lose it completely and do the craziest things. I still can't understand how come you never realized that overreacting like this wasn't getting you anywhere."

"Actually I did; I just couldn't help myself," he said quietly. "I know it wasn't normal, but…it was the first time I felt that way and I didn't know what to do with myself so I just acted on instinct."

"I, on the other hand, did the opposite," he heard her say thoughtfully. "I always thought too much, worried too much…I never had the confidence to follow my heart or show how I really feel instead of how I'm expected to feel. You're better than me that way; you never let what others think stop you from doing what you wanted."

"That's because idiots like me usually don't think too much," he said with a small smile. "I guess both of us overdid it one way or another; but now at least we know where we went wrong." When they hung up shortly afterwards he was feeling strangely content, even happy that he could talk with her like this. There were no more secrets between them, and yet that made him feel not vulnerable but stronger. It gave him a sense of security he had never got from anyone else.

For Eri, too, those phone calls were a great source of comfort; it was mostly thanks to them that she was able to cope with her loneliness. Mikoto and Akira, too, called her as often as they could, but just like she expected they had only found time to visit her once; Akira was busy with her part-time job again and Mikoto was stuck with helping her mother with the household chores. " 'You'll never make a good bride for Haruki-kun if you don't become a better housewife,' is what my mother said," she complained to Eri over the phone. "I can't believe she said that with a straight face!"

"Well, it's true that you and Hanai-kun look good together," Eri said, unable to resist the temptation to tease her friend a little. "And he'd make a great husband, so it's no wonder your mother wants him as a son-in-law."

"Not you too!" protested Mikoto. "Hanai and I are just childhood friends; besides, what does it matter how we look? The one he likes is Yakumo anyway!"

"People's tastes can change, you know," Eri said slyly. "If it doesn't work out between him and Yakumo, who knows what may happen?"

"W-well it's not like I want anything to happen!" Mikoto burst out. Eri carried on teasing her a while longer, amused by how her friend wasn't honest with her feelings. Well, she wasn't much better herself when it came to that, she admitted inwardly; funny how those same defects she had always overlooked on herself were so easily visible on another person.

But for all those small distractions she was still quite lonely, not to mention worried about this whole kidnapping affair. She tried hard not to let it get to her, but she had never dealt with something so dangerous before, not to mention she had become involved in it through no fault of her own. It was impossible for her not to feel depressed and anxious, and she would probably have become a nervous wreck if it weren't for those phone calls with Harima. He wasn't any more gallant to her than before and most of the time they'd wind up arguing over the phone, although it never got to actual fighting. But she didn't mind; she knew there was genuine concern behind his brusqueness. The fact alone that he found time to call her even though he was so busy at this time of year – he had to stay up late almost every night to work on his chapter for the magazine's special Christmas issue – was proof positive that he cared, and that alone was enough to ease her angst and keep her going. She had never wanted to rely on anyone else before, but now she was glad to have his support…she knew she'd be lost without it. She felt that more acutely than ever after the disappointment which awaited her on Christmas day.

Her parents were supposed to arrive at around noon, but early in the morning, shortly after she woke up, Eri got a call from them instead. Apparently something had come up, a crisis in the negotiations from what she could understand, and they were unable to leave England. Once again Eri swallowed her sadness and did not complain so as not to cause them any more discomfort, but for the whole day she was feeling really down and nothing, not the huge parcel filled with presents from her parents which was delivered shortly afterwards or the scrumptious Christmas meal Nakamura and Masaru made for her could make her snap out of it. She tried valiantly not to let it show before her servants because she didn't want to make them worried, but she knew she could not keep up the act for long; so as soon as she got the chance she excused herself to her room under the pretext of studying. She spent the rest of the day there, mostly looking out the window at the now snow-swept garden; it had started snowing in the afternoon and as the evening wore on it had turned into a regular blizzard. Occasionally a call or a text would interrupt her solitude; she got a call from Mikoto and Akira and chatted with them for a bit, as well as a few texts from social acquaintances to which she replied out of politeness, but none of that was enough to make her get over her disappointment. Sighing dejectedly she decided to turn in early; but just when she had changed into her nightclothes and was tucked into her bed her phone rang once again. She took a look at the name on the screen and all of a sudden her heart felt light for the first time today. "Hey," the familiar warm voice sounded from the other end of the line. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," she wished back, hoping she didn't sound too dejected. "How was your day? Did you go anywhere?"

"Nah, it's impossible to go out in this weather, so we just stayed at home. Imouto-san cooked a whole lot of things, she even baked a Christmas cake; and Sarah-chan sang something called Christmas carols to us after dinner, it's a custom in her country, she said. What about you, did you have a good time with your folks? I would've called earlier but you said they were coming over today and I didn't want to be in the way."

"Oh, that," Eri said, still trying to conceal her sorrow as much as possible. "They couldn't make it after all; something important came up. But they called me and sent me my presents, so I guess it's all right."

Harima wasn't fooled for a minute though; even if he hadn't known how much she looked forward to seeing her parents again, he knew her well enough by now to discern the sadness lurking behind her superficial nonchalance. For several moments he struggled to refrain from saying what he truly thought of those parents who put business before their daughter's happiness; he was well aware of Eri's love for her parents and he knew that speaking ill of them would only sadden her more. If only he could be with her right now and make her forget everything; but like he had said, it was impossible to take out his motorcycle in this blizzard. The only thing he could do was keep her company over the phone, so after a few seconds of silence he asked her, "Say…if you have time can we talk for a bit longer today? I don't have to work tomorrow, and I'm not sleepy yet."

"S-sure, that's okay," she said, a bit more brightly this time; and for a long while afterwards they chatted about various subjects. They didn't argue this time; Harima was gentler than usual, although he still teased her on occasion. After a while he was pleased to hear her mood gradually improving, and when they finally hung up she seemed almost back to normal. As he lay down to sleep he was smiling, truly happy that he had helped her get over her dejection. His cell phone bill next month was going to be pretty steep, but that was a small price to pay for making her feel even a little better.

The next few days passed without any changes; the weather was still bad, preventing any outdoors activities. Only on New Year day it cleared up sufficiently, allowing Harima to take Yakumo and Sarah to visit a shrine, something they wanted very much. Eri wasn't there, of course; crowded places like this were to be avoided at all costs in her current situation. They did meet a good number of their friends from school though; Satsuki, Miki and Haruna were there escorted by Tougou and Harry, although from the looks of it Haruna at least would have preferred to get rid of her brother's presence. Hirayama-kun came, too, and wished them well for New Year but he didn't stay for long because he had promised to go visit his grandparents. Yakumo was a bit apprehensive about how he'd treat her after his confession on the field trip, but to her relief his attitude was the same as always. Mikoto and Akira were also there with Hanai, who was alternately fawning over Yakumo in her kimono and glowering at Harima next to her, although the latter was too preoccupied to even notice. At some point when Yakumo and Sarah were busy catching up with their friends, he managed to pull Mikoto and Akira a little farther off and have a word with them; he had already heard from Eri that they knew of her problem and he wanted to hear their opinion about it.

"…So, Eri's still not allowed outside, huh," Mikoto said with concern. "It's about two weeks now…I wonder how much longer this situation will last. She doesn't complain about it but I'm sure she's not happy."

Akira nodded in agreement as well. "I think so too," she said. "It's hard to tell over the phone, but I believe anyone would be upset by this. Not to mention she's all alone in this big house…she has her servants, of course, but they're not the same as her friends."

"Have you talked to her at all, Harima?" Mikoto asked. He nodded and she asked again, "So…what do you think, how is she holding up?"

"It's like you said…she's trying to be brave but I think she's pushing herself," he answered, worried as well. "I'll never understand those rich people…why the hell do they have to drag others into their affairs, and kids too…it's unforgivable!" he added angrily.

"I agree, but unfortunately we can't do much about it," Akira said. "All we can do is be there for Eri and help her get through this predicament. Well, on the bright side winter break ends in a few days and she'll start coming to school at least; it might get her mind a bit off her troubles."

They didn't talk about it any further but during the remainder of their visit to the shrine Harima kept thinking about her; and when his turn came to pray at the temple impulsively the first wish that came to his mind was to see her happy again. He was still thinking about it when they returned home; for the first time in his life he was impatient for school to start, just so he could see her again and check her condition for himself.

At long last winter break ended and classes resumed once more. When Harima met Eri again, what he saw confirmed his suspicions; she was putting on a strong front but as the days passed the piled-up stress was eating away at her. He wanted to be there for her but he couldn't speak with her freely in front of their classmates, so he kept up their routine of nightly phone calls. She still seemed happy to hear him, but as time wore on he noticed it was becoming increasingly difficult to cheer her up; it was evident that her worries weighed on her mind more and more. "The worst of it all…is that I can't do anything about it," she told him one night when she was feeling more miserable than usual. "It's completely out of my hands; I can only sit and wait for something to change. If only there was something I could do…right now I feel so helpless, and I hate it."

He understood that feeling all too well – he, too, hated that he couldn't do anything about this. If he knew who it was who wanted to harm Ojou he'd go and beat him half to death in a heartbeat, but the way things were now he could do nothing but stand by and watch her getting more depressed day by day. He kept on supporting her emotionally as best as he could, but the fact that he couldn't do anything more to help her frustrated him immensely.

So January passed without any changes; they were well into February now, it was going to be Valentine's day in two days' time. Harima, however, hadn't thought even once about getting chocolates and all that; he had far more serious problems to worry about at the moment. After one last look at the cloudy sky he finally pulled away from the window and started walking towards his classroom again, when he was suddenly cut off.

The one who stopped him was a guy about as tall as he was, with blond, almost white hair combed back and a very pale face, marred by several disfiguring scars around the eyes which made him look extremely scary. But the most frightening thing about him was those very eyes; steel grey and colder than ice, eyes that had never looked on anyone with kindness. It had been a while since Harima had last seen Max, but he didn't seem to have changed one bit.

The last time they had talked was many months ago, when Max had begged him to stop Eri from returning to England and marrying his former boss Shawn, who apparently wanted to marry her in order to punish Max for his insubordination. Afterwards Max and his two companions had remained in Japan, since there was no place for them in England anymore, and were attending Yagami High as well. Actually, 'attending' wasn't quite right; they were supposedly enrolled in class 3-B but they hardly ever came to school. It seemed they spent most of their time in the more shady parts of town; Harima had overheard once some boys saying they had seen them in the company of some very tough-looking guys; they had probably been scouted or hired as outside help by some gang or yakuza group. He wasn't all that surprised to hear this; the only thing those three were good at was fighting and their social skills were nonexistent, so it was only natural they'd wind up with the underworld. At any rate he hadn't given it much thought; he had plenty of problems of his own to think about at the time, and as he practically never saw them at school he had all but forgotten about their existence; the last time he had spared a thought about Max was during his date with Ojou when she had mentioned him, although admittedly none too fondly. Well, he didn't consider him a friend either; he respected him as an opponent but had never really warmed up to him, and from what he could understand the feeling was mutual. Max had never so much as spoken to him since that day when he had bowed his head before him; so it was with no little surprise that Harima saw him now purposely approaching him in the deserted corridor. "Yo, Jap," Max said curtly, completely disregarding his surprise. "We need to talk."

Harima gave him an annoyed look; the last thing he wanted right now was to pick a fight in school. "I'm not in the mood right now, Max, so if you're looking for a fight look somewhere else," he said tersely and tried to resume going on his way, but Max cut him off again. "I said we need to talk," he repeated, clearly not intending to take no for an answer. Harima felt his temper flaring up again and was just about to reciprocate with a punch in the jaw when Max added, "It's about Sawachika – she's in danger."

Instantly forgetting his anger Harima stared at him intensely. "What are you talking about?" he asked in a low voice. "What, you don't know anything?" Max sneered. "You haven't even noticed that for two months now she hasn't taken even one step outside without her butler? Some fiancé you are."

Harima looked at him angrily again. "I don't need _you_ to tell me that," he growled. "I know all about this story right from the start; she's told me everything."

"Do you now?" Max asked. "You wouldn't also happen to know who's the one trying to kidnap her, would you?"

"If I knew who the bastard was he'd be in the hospital right now," Harima growled again. "Ojou doesn't know who it is either; her old man might know something but he hasn't told her anything."

"I see – then why don't I let you in on a little something I heard last night," Max said, coming closer and dropping his voice. "The one who wants to kidnap her is none other than my old boss Shawn – remember him? The one who wanted to marry her last spring?"

"Yeah, to get back at you for going against him," Harima said. "That's what I thought too, but it seems that wasn't even the half of it," Max said, frowning. "It was really dumb of me to believe what Shawn said – I should've known that no matter how much he wanted to hurt me he would never go as far as marrying for revenge alone."

"Then…what _would _he go so far for?" Harima asked with a sudden sinking feeling in his stomach. Max gave him another scornful look, as though he was failing to grasp something plainly obvious.

"Her father's company, man. The Sawachika group and Shawn's family corporation have been business rivals since forever, and especially those last few years her old man has snatched a lot of deals from them – not to mention it's worth billions, and she's the only heir." His voice dropped even more. "And if she happened to get married – and then died – who do you think all this money would go to?"

"Her husband," Harima whispered, clenching his fists so tightly his knuckles had turned white. He looked at Max with burning eyes and asked in a voice shaking with suppressed rage, "Are you saying this piece of shit was planning to marry Ojou…and then kill her?"

"Nothing so crude as that," Max said darkly. "You don't know Shawn; behind that pretty face of his lies the blackest heart the world has ever seen. He wasn't planning to kill her – he was planning to marry her and then make her life a living hell. Break her until she took her own life; or until she turned to drink or drugs and then happened to have an 'unfortunate accident', leaving the grieving husband with all her fortune."

For several seconds Harima was unable to say a word, struggling as he was to control his fury and not knock Max out cold. "Just how stupid are you?" he shouted, unable to contain himself. "You knew about this and you never said anything? What if she hadn't listened to me back then and gotten married to that scumbag – do you realize she'd probably be dead by now?"

"I already said I didn't know about this last year, damn it," Max ground out, scowling at him. "I only heard about it much later; and even then, who could I tell? I used to be one of Shawn's lackeys, in case you've forgotten – do you think she'd ever believe anything I had to say? Besides, by the time I found out about this she was already engaged to you, so I thought there was no danger of Shawn getting his hands on her again." He frowned again. "The thing is, it seems he has other plans about her now."

"What do you know?" Harima asked straight out. Max leaned closer and lowered his voice again. "There's some word on the street; I heard about it a couple of days ago," he muttered. "Some pretty boy with a lot of money hired a bunch of local thugs to have a rich girl kidnapped, and he paid them very well too. He's not here in person, of course; but from what I heard he matches Shawn's description, and I'm pretty sure his corporation would want in on whatever deal Sawachika's old man is trying to get right now. Anyway, I snooped around a bit with Sam and Mick, and last night Mick spotted those guys in a bar and heard them talking about it. Seems the plan is to have the girl kidnapped and then threaten her old man that if he doesn't do as Shawn says he'll tell his goons to do whatever they want with her." His scowl deepened even further. "Although knowing Shawn, the odds are that he'll tell them to do that anyway. It's not like he has any conscience to hold him back."

"Any idea where they are now?" Harima asked, but Max shook his head. "No," he said sullenly. "Mick didn't catch any names, and it was too dark to get a good look at them. He tried following them but they had a car; they headed for the docks but that place is huge, they could be anywhere. I've told the boys to keep looking for them, but I figured I'd better let you know about this in the meantime."

"I see," Harima said laconically. "Thanks for the tip." Without another word he turned to go, but Max grabbed him by the arm with a vexed look on his face. "Wait – that's it? Are you going to just leave it at that? I can't tell her any of this 'cause she won't believe me anyway, but you're engaged to her! You have to do something!"

"I don't _have_ to do anything, Max," Harima said with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "Unlike you I was never a hired gun. I fight for myself – and for those I want to protect." Abruptly he jerked his arm free and walked away in large strides, ignoring completely Max' furious glare directed at his back.

Of course he wasn't going to let this slide – he had only spoken that way because he didn't feel like answering to Max about anything or taking orders from him. But what he had just heard was indeed useful – maybe if that information reached Ojou's parents they might be able to expose that asshole Shawn before he actually tried anything. The question was how to give them that information; he couldn't tell Ojou directly about this. Not only there was a very good chance she wouldn't believe him when she found out just who his information source was – she thought the worst of Max and considering their past history he couldn't blame her – but more than that he didn't want to frighten her even more than she already was. Even he had been shocked when he had heard about Shawn's plan; a girl, even a spunky one like Ojou would probably freak out. After a brief deliberation he concluded the best way to go about this would be to pass the information on to her butler. Nakamura might be a crossdressing weirdo but he was extremely smart and competent; he'd know how to make use of this tip. Normally he'd come to pick Ojou up right about now, he reckoned; if he hurried he should be able to catch up with them and somehow let Nakamura know he had something to tell him without Ojou getting wind of it. He rushed back to the classroom walking as fast as he could, but to his dismay when he arrived there Eri was already gone; only Mikoto was there.

"Oh, you're still here?" she asked with her usual friendliness. "I was leaving just now," he replied, grabbing his school bag, then on impulse he turned around and asked her, "I see Ojou's gone; her butler came to pick her up already?"

"No, Nakamura-san didn't come today," Mikoto said and he stopped in his tracks. "What? Why not?" he asked sharply. "I…I don't know," Mikoto said, taken aback by his reaction. "He left a message at the teachers' office that he couldn't come to pick Eri up today and that she should go home on her own. Tani-sensei gave her the message just now, so she went on ahead; I would've gone with her but I have supplementary classes today."

Harima stared hard at her, his mind working furiously. "You said he left a message with the teachers?" he asked abruptly. "Why didn't he call her cell?"

Mikoto stared back at him, surprised. "I…have no idea…maybe he didn't want to disturb her during class…? Harima? Harima, where are you going?"

But she never got an answer; Harima had already dashed out of the classroom, running as fast as he could. First he headed for the shoe lockers, hoping to catch her there; when he saw she was nowhere in sight he swiftly put his outdoors shoes on and started sprinting towards the school gate. All of a sudden he had a very bad feeling.

_Ojou…where are you?_

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He had never felt more relieved in his life than when he spotted the well-known blond pigtails a short distance off the school gate. Eri was standing on the sidewalk looking right and left, as if she wasn't sure whether she should wait there a bit longer or go ahead and leave. She had her back turned towards Harima and didn't see him coming; and in the midst of his agitation he didn't even think of calling out to her. Instead he ran towards her like mad and grabbed her hand from behind; Eri let out a startled yelp as she turned around and saw him. "Hige, you scared me!" she said reproachfully, then noticing his upset expression she asked anxiously, "What happened, what's your rush?"

"It's…no big deal," he said, still panting; the last thing he needed right now was to scare her. "I heard your butler didn't come to pick you up today; something the matter with him?"

"I'm not sure," Eri said, worried as well. "The message he left with Tani-sensei said only that I should walk home today; but it's kind of odd, you know," she went on. "Normally if he couldn't come he'd give me a call or at least text me; so I thought I should wait a bit for him in case there was some sort of mistake. But he should be here twenty minutes ago and when I tried to call him it didn't get through, so I guess he really isn't coming."

_Thank God this one can actually use her brain,_ he unwittingly thought. If she had blindly trusted that message and left immediately he wouldn't have caught up with her and she would have walked right into a trap, he was sure of it. He, too, believed Nakamura wasn't going to show up; but he didn't think he had left that message either. Harima might be slow when it came to romance, but he had been around enough to know a fishy situation when he saw one; and after what he had heard from Max today this whole affair just reeked of setup. It was the oldest trick in the book; those guys Shawn had hired had somehow or other managed to lure Nakamura away and at the same time left a fake message that Ojou was to go home on her own – clearly they intended to kidnap her on the way home.

But even though he was certain about this he didn't know how to prevent it from actually happening. Obviously they couldn't stay there for much longer; most of the students had left and the area was more or less deserted, not to mention it would be dark soon; they couldn't really count on getting any help if they were attacked there. He thought of not letting her go home and taking her to his place instead, but she probably wouldn't agree to it for no reason, not when she had promised her father she wouldn't go anywhere on her own. And he couldn't tell her the reason; even if she believed what Max had told him she probably wouldn't take it calmly and he couldn't have her panicking right now. Besides, if he was wrong and Nakamura was waiting for her at home, and she didn't return because of him…he'd be absolutely furious with both of them and quite rightly too. After thinking about it for a few seconds he decided that the only thing to do was to see her home safely. If Nakamura was there, well and good; if not, he'd stay with her until he returned. Those would-be kidnappers probably didn't have the manpower or equipment to break into a high-class mansion; once they got there Ojou would most likely be safe enough. The dangerous part was getting there; they should move as quickly as they could while it was still light outside and there were people around, and keep to the main roads as much as possible. With a bit of luck, those scumbags might even call it off when they saw their target wasn't alone, and if they didn't…well, then he'd just have to change their minds himself; he had a lot of persuasive power when it came to that and he was going to make full use of it. Having made his decision, he turned towards her.

"Yeah, I don't think he's coming either," he said. "It's getting late, too, so you'd better hurry up and get home; let's go."

"But Hige…isn't your place in the opposite direction?" Eri asked, puzzled. "It's okay," he said curtly. "I feel like walking today."

"But…" "I said I feel like walking, you got a problem with that? Come on, let's get going!" Without another word he started walking fast towards her mansion, pulling her along with him. Eri did not make any more objections and followed him obediently; she, too, was uneasy about walking home on her own and was relieved to have someone with her. But as they set off she gave one more worried glance over her shoulder; she was still concerned why Nakamura had sent that message. Even if something unexpected had happened and he couldn't come to fetch her home he would normally call her and tell her himself…she sincerely hoped nothing bad had happened to him.

At the same time, Nakamura and Masaru were across town near the docks, driving around a rather disreputable area full of old warehouses, abandoned factories and decrepit bars. The reason they were way over there instead of at school picking up their mistress was exactly what Harima had suspected: about half an hour before classes ended, the phone in Eri's mansion rang; it was a call from an unidentified number. When Nakamura picked up, he heard something like a girl's scream in the background, followed by a rough and very sinister-sounding male voice:

"We have your little lady here with us, Mr. Butler," the voice said. "If you want to see her again, come to the warehouse No. 3856 on the west side of the docks. If you're not there within the hour…let's just say I can't guarantee how much of her you'll find when you get here."

"Where is Ojou-sama? Let me talk to her!" Nakamura cried out. He heard a harsh laugh at the other end of the line, and then the scream again; it was much closer now, and definitely a woman's voice. "You're in no position to make demands," the voice said. "Just be there if you want the girl in one piece," and he hung up.

"Masaru, get the car immediately!" Nakamura shouted, rushing down the stairs. He grabbed several weapons from his quarters downstairs and dashed out. Masaru had already brought the car out and they set off for the address specified to them at top speed. Despite his looks Masaru was an excellent driver and they made it to the docks much more quickly than any normal car would; but when they tried to locate the warehouse No. 3856 they discovered it might take them quite some time. There were a great number of warehouses, and not all of them were distinctly marked; moreover they had nothing but the number to go on, not even the street's name. As they drove around trying to find it, Nakamura suddenly realized that the instructions they were given were way too vague; it was as if the kidnappers wanted him to have a hard time finding them. But that didn't make sense; if they wanted to negotiate a ransom with him they should send him to a place he would find easily. Moreover, it was kind of illogical that they hadn't made any demand in the first place, like asking him to bring money or relay a message to his employer. Since he had no reason to believe they had any personal grudge against him, it was abnormal that they only asked him to come get Ojou-sama. Any kidnapper would make some sort of demand once they had their hostage…unless…they didn't have their hostage yet. Seized by a sudden dreadful suspicion, he pulled out his cell phone and tried to call Ojou-sama, but his signal was too weak in that area and the call couldn't get through. It might be just strong enough for him to call a regular phone though; but who could he call? Then it occurred to him to try the school; if Ojou-sama had indeed been kidnapped then she would have gone missing during her last class, and someone of her teachers would have noticed. He quickly dialed the teachers' office and to his immense relief this time he got through; after two or three rings someone picked up.

"Osakabe-sensei speaking," a female voice sounded from the other end of the line. Her voice sounded as if from very far away, due to the bad reception, but at least he could hear her. "Osakabe-sensei, this is Nakamura," he said. "Ah, Nakamura-san," the teacher said. "Don't worry, Tani-sensei already gave Sawachika-san your message."

"Message? What message?" he asked, alarmed. "The message that you could not pick her up today," Osakabe-sensei said, surprised. "Tani-sensei got it a while ago and he told her just now, after classes ended. Nakamura-san? Is something wrong?"

Oh yes, something was very wrong indeed. "I have to go, Osakabe-sensei," Nakamura said hurriedly and hung up. "Masaru, back to Ojou-sama's school, quickly!" he ordered. The burly guy in the maid uniform nodded and floored the accelerator, making the huge car literally jump forward in a cloud of dust.

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Harima and Eri were about halfway back to her mansion, walking at a brisk pace. The sun was setting – or at least it should be behind the thick clouds – and the light was even more diminished, but this was not the only reason Harima was worried. Much as he had tried to keep to the most crowded streets, it was impossible to do so for the entire route; Ojou's mansion was in the outskirts of town and they had to pass through a large quiet residential area in order to get there, with hardly any traffic or passers-by, especially at this hour. So far Harima hadn't spotted anybody likely to be tailing them but despite that he was on his guard as much as ever, checking around every corner they turned and making sure Ojou was on the inner side of the pavement at all times. Moreover he hadn't let go of her hand even for a second, for once not caring in the least how she might interpret that. Eri could not help but notice his bizarre behavior but something about his expression told her that questions would not be welcome at the moment, so she just kept quiet and followed at the exhaustingly swift pace he had purposely set; more than anything he wanted them to get to their destination safely as soon as possible. The streets they were walking through right now were much too deserted for his peace of mind; he was fully aware that this was where it was most likely for the kidnapping to take place.

Which was probably why he was hardly surprised when suddenly a car appeared behind them running at full speed, headed straight for them. Although the windshield was tinted and he could not see who was inside, Harima knew instinctively that something was wrong. Trusting his instinct, he impulsively spun round and started running in the opposite direction, pulling Eri by the hand with him. Whoever was driving was taken by surprise by his unexpected reaction and could not stop the speeding car immediately, thus allowing them to put some distance between themselves and the car's passengers. But eventually the car stopped and out came four bulky guys no one could mistake for anything other than criminals. At first they tried to run after them but Harima and Eri were very fast. Seeing they might actually lose them, one of them who seemed to be the leader shouted something and two of them doubled back until they reached two alleys left and right of the street. There they separated and took one alley each, clearly intending to cut them off from behind, while the other two continued chasing after them.

Harima saw this as well and realized instantly that their escape route had been cut off. Without a chance to escape, the only choice he was left with was to make a stand and fight them. It wasn't like he didn't want to; if he were on his own that's what he would have done in the first place, but now he had to find a way to keep Ojou safe first. With four against one it would not be difficult for one of them to grab her while the other three kept him busy. It was absolutely necessary to find some way of securing her before their attackers caught up with them.

Then suddenly his eyes were drawn by what could well be a solution to his problem. A little further down the street stood an isolated small villa, surrounded completely by a very high concrete wall. The gate was somewhat lower, made of cast-iron bars with a decorative pattern. Still gripping Eri's hand, he dashed straight for it and tried the door; unfortunately it was locked. The next second Eri dropped her school bag in surprise as she suddenly found herself being lifted bodily into the air. "Hige, what – " "Just get in there!" he shouted and fortunately Eri felt the urgency in his voice and without arguing any further quickly scrambled over the gate and dropped into the yard. Harima glanced once more at the refuge he had chosen, surveying it quickly – yes, this was just the thing, no one could get to Ojou in there while he wasn't looking. The wall on every side was sheer concrete, and way too high to scale. The only way in was through the door – and to get to that door they'd have to go through him first.

Seeing what he had done his two assailants slowed down, approaching him warily; obviously they intended to give their two companions time to catch up. Harima took this opportunity to size them up as well; just as he expected, this was not going to be an easy fight. It wasn't just that it was four against one; he had fought against worse odds before and prevailed, but this time his opponents were considerably more dangerous than the ones he usually fought with in the past. Just by looking at them he could tell these were no ordinary street punks but professional thugs – hired muscle, the real deal. He'd need every last ounce of his strength and skill to beat them and even that might not be enough. Still, running away never occurred to him even for an instant; he'd never run away from _any_ fight before, and this sure as hell wasn't going to be the first one. Adrenalin pumping in his veins, he tossed his school bag and jacket aside and assumed fighting position. _I'll kill them with my bare hands if I have to, but they're not getting anywhere near her._

From behind the gate Eri looked at the scene in front of her, her heart and body shaking with fear – not for herself, but for him. When he had forced her in there she hadn't realized what he intended to do, but now it was clear to her that he meant to fight those men on his own – and they looked so dangerous! She wanted to call out to him to leave her there and escape while there was still time, but she didn't; she already knew he wasn't going to listen to her and the sound of her voice would only distract him. If only she could fight alongside him as well; but much as she hated to admit it, that was impossible. Even though she was strong for a girl she wasn't nearly strong enough to hold her own against those guys; her being out there would only hinder him, that's why he had put her in that yard where she would be safe. She understood that, but still…there had to be something she could do to help him! She ran quickly up the steps to the villa's entrance and rang the doorbell frantically; but to her dismay there was no answer, the residents were evidently not in. The other houses on the street were quite far off and in any case they looked just as deserted; it was to be expected, businessmen usually weren't home at this hour. Then all of a sudden she remembered her cell phone was still in her coat pocket, she had taken it out of her bag when she had tried to call Nakamura earlier. She whipped it out and called him again, but she still couldn't get through. She was just about to try again when her attention was caught by the two menacing figures closing in on Hige, sneering smugly at him; evidently they didn't think he'd be much of a hindrance to them. "This is none of your business, brat," said the one who looked like he was in charge. "Walk away now, and we're not – "

He never got a chance to finish his sentence. Harima's fist crashed into his jaw, sending him keeling over – and the fight began.

Several minutes later it was still raging with unbelievable intensity. The other two thugs had caught up almost as soon as the fight started and now all four of them were upon Harima, trying to get the better of him. After the first few seconds they had no illusions about making short work of him and fought him as ruthlessly and dirty as they would any seasoned gang member or henchman. Again and again they attacked him all at once, seeking to overpower him by means of their numbers or to catch him off guard and knock him out from behind. But he was Harima Kenji, the one who had earned the nickname 'Hurricane' on the streets when he was but a brat of thirteen, for a very good reason. He wasn't just strong; his greatest attribute was his natural ability to predict his opponents' moves, while at the same time he was too fast for them to do the same. That was why he hardly ever lost a fight back then, despite his tendency to let the excitement get to his head and mess up his concentration. But today he didn't have that problem, because today he wasn't fighting for the heck of it or as an outlet for his rage; he fought because he had someone to protect at all costs. His mind had never felt clearer, his moves had never been so accurate and well-coordinated. Like an unstoppable killing machine he fended off the attacks over and over, dealing punches and kicks aimed where they would inflict the most pain with deadly accuracy. Many times it seemed like he was going to be overcome by his adversaries and just as many times he pushed them back with devastating sequences of roundhouse kicks and bone-shattering punches. He had taken quite a few hits too, of course, but that didn't even slow him down and despite their efforts his opponents were unable to defeat him; he seemed absolutely indestructible.

From her vantage point up on the steps Eri at first watched with bated breath for a few seconds. Then she snapped out of it and called Nakamura again; this was no time to be spacing out, she had to get help while he fought to keep them both safe. She didn't get through this time either, but she didn't give up; she kept trying over and over until after numerous attempts her call finally got through. The phone had barely rung once when Nakamura picked up; he must have been trying to reach her this whole time too. "Ojou-sama? Where are you?" she heard his agonized voice.

"Nakamura! We're at…" She didn't know the name of the street but she described their location as best she could. "Please come quickly! As quickly as you can!"

"We'll be right there. Masaru, you heard!" A grunt sounded, followed by the engine's roar, and Nakamura hung up.

Slightly relieved now that help was on the way Eri directed her eyes to the street again where Harima was still fighting like a lion against the four thugs, but her relief soon turned into dismay. He still fought as valiantly as ever but it looked like the injuries he had sustained were gradually starting to wear him down; his movements were a bit slower and there were numerous cuts and bruises all over his body. His enemies were just as battered, but since there were four of them even if one went down there were the others to keep him from finishing him off, whereas he had no one to support him. Eri held her breath, her heart thumping so hard it hurt; would he manage to pull through until Nakamura arrived? She considered telling him that help was coming, in the hope of scaring his opponents away, but she hesitated; she felt that if she distracted him even a little right now it might prove fatal for him.

Just then he managed to send one of his opponents to the ground for the umpteenth time with a right cross to the ribs; the guy was on the ground writhing in pain for several moments while his companions kept trying to overpower Harima without success. Then he slowly got up, coughing up some blood he spat on the asphalt and scowling at Harima. "Damned brat, I swear you're going to pay for this…" and he went to rejoin the fray; then he seemed to remember something because he paused and pulled something out of his pocket. "Stupid, I should've thought to use this in the first place…" and he slipped a pair of brass knuckles on his hand without anyone noticing. He engaged in the fight again, trying to catch Harima off guard and land a hit with his newly-equipped weapon. Unfortunately Harima didn't notice the knuckles, occupied as he was with defending himself; and shortly afterwards the guy got an opening from the left side and struck for Harima's head. Harima saw it and tried to dodge the hit but he was a fraction of a second too slow, and the brass knuckles got him on the base of the skull – and down he went.

He fell on the road with a thud, unconscious and unmoving. Fortunately after he fell his opponents didn't bother with him any further; they had wasted enough time already trying to get him out of their way. "Damn that kid, he did a real number on us," the leader said, huffing and puffing. "Let's grab the girl and get out of here; we're already late and the boss'll have our hides if we don't report soon." Wiping the blood from their numerous wounds they advanced menacingly towards the gate, but Eri didn't even see them coming; all she could see replaying over and over again before her eyes was Harima as he fell. She was absolutely petrified, she couldn't even scream; she just stood there frozen, staring at his body sprawled on the cold asphalt.

"Get down, Ojou-sama!" Nakamura's voice resounded over the engine's roar, followed immediately by a volley of bullets. Eri snapped out of her shock and instinctively hit the ground, barely registering the sight of her limo running towards the villa at breakneck speed, with Masaru at the wheel and Nakamura halfway out the window firing at the criminals with an automatic rifle he was holding. It didn't take more than a split second for them to abandon their mission; they instantly took to their heels and ran to their car. Miraculously they managed to get there despite the bullets flying all around them, although shortly before reaching the car one of them got shot in the leg; but the others dragged him to the car and they drove off as fast as they could. Eri's servants tried to chase them for a bit but they soon gave up; their first priority was to ensure their mistress wasn't hurt.

Eri, however, didn't spare them another glance, she just dashed to the gate the second they had moved away. Not even she knew how she leaped over it and ran to the fallen Harima's side. "Hige, are you all right? Hige!" she cried out, dropping to her knees next to him. But he didn't answer; he lay on his back completely still, and when she tried to lift his head she felt her fingers moistening. She pulled her hand back and saw it was smeared with something sticky and red…Blood…

"No way…KENJI!"

The desperate cry had barely left Eri's lips and Nakamura was already kneeling by her side. "Don't try to move him, Ojou-sama," he said anxiously. "Let me take a look." Deathly pale, Eri silently pulled back a little to give him room. Quickly and efficiently the former soldier checked Harima's vital signs, then his body for other injuries and finally with great care not to move him he examined the wound on the back of his head. Then he whipped out his cell phone, dialed a number and barked some instructions, and only after he was done he turned to his agonized Ojou-sama again.

"He's breathing," he said briefly and concisely. "The cut on his head seems superficial, but it's possible that he has a concussion. He should get medical attention as soon as possible; I already called the group's private clinic and asked for an ambulance, it'll be here in a few minutes. Meanwhile we should apply pressure on the wound," he added, pulling out a handkerchief.

"I'll do it," Eri said decisively, snatching the handkerchief from him. Nakamura didn't try to dissuade her, just showed her where to press with her hands. Eri followed his instructions, all the while staring at the unconscious Harima's face in agony; again and again she called him by his name, trying to wake him up, but he showed no sign of regaining consciousness. As the minutes passed by her agony turned into desperation; what if he never woke up again? The mere thought of that was shredding her heart to pieces; she would have preferred getting kidnapped a thousand times over than him getting hurt because of her, or maybe even…No, no, this couldn't happen, it just couldn't! Her very sanity threatened to slip away at the thought of something irreparable happening to him and it was only her determination to stay by his side no matter what that kept her from collapsing right there; but by the time the ambulance arrived she was a raw bundle of nerves, her usual toughness decimated by her agony for him. She who never cried in front of anyone now let her tears flow freely without a care; she who had never once called him by his name now did so time and again without even thinking what others might say about it. Right now her whole world was the still form lying next to her, those shut eyes she would've given anything to see them open once again.

The ambulance arrived soon and two paramedics jumped out. With professional efficiency they did a quick check-up on Harima, at the same time listening to Nakamura's brief account of his own examination; then they bandaged up his wound temporarily, hooked him on an IV drip and laid him on a stretcher. "They'll take him to the hospital now, Ojou-sama," Nakamura said. "We'll follow them in the car so if you…"

"I'm going with him," Eri cut him off tersely, promptly climbing inside the ambulance and sitting down beside the stretcher. "Ojou-sama, it would be safer if you came with us…" "I said I'm going with him," snapped Eri, regaining her usual authoritative self for a second. Nakamura sighed in resignation; he knew his Ojou-sama too well not to realize she wasn't backing down on this one. He quickly went over and gathered Eri and Harima's things that were still scattered on the street, then returned to the car just as the ambulance was setting off. "Don't lose them, Masaru," he ordered his subordinate; the gigantic male maid nodded with yet another grunt and drove off as well.

Inside the ambulance Eri was once again bending over the unconscious Harima, observing him anxiously for any sign of consciousness. "It's okay to touch him or talk to him," one of the paramedics said sympathetically. "In fact, you should do that; it's helpful to let him know you're here." Eri nodded in understanding and took Harima's hand between hers, stroking it gently while calling him by his name and asking him to wake up. Unfortunately all her efforts were in vain, for he didn't so much as twitch a muscle throughout the drive to the hospital; by the time they arrived there Eri's agony and despair had increased exponentially, not to mention she was blaming herself for bringing this upon him. When Nakamura arrived at the hospital as well, right behind the ambulance, he was shocked to see his lady's ashen, tear-stained face as she stepped down from the ambulance. He rushed immediately to her side but she barely acknowledged his presence, her anguished eyes trained on the stretcher carried away by the paramedics.

As soon as they arrived at the hospital Harima was carted off immediately to get examined and have his wound stitched up, while Eri and her servants were shown to a waiting-room close to the hospital room where he would be admitted after his tests were over. First off Nakamura escorted his mistress to a nearby washroom in order to clean the blood off her hands; she followed him mechanically but didn't say even one word while he cleaned her up as best he could. Then he had her sit down in the waiting-room and ordered Masaru to watch over her while he went a little farther off to call Osakabe-sensei and inform her about her cousin's condition; since he had been seriously injured his family ought to be notified, and Osakabe-sensei was his only family member he knew of.

Eri didn't seem to notice at all when he returned, she just kept staring at the entrance whence Harima would be brought in when his tests were over. Masaru was watching her with a worried look on his usually wooden face; he had never seen his Ojou-sama so distraught before. Well, Nakamura had to admit this was a first for him too; his mistress despite her young age had always been composed and dignified in front of him, without ever complaining or showing weakness. When he had first been assigned to her service this had caused him a lot of worry, since he was always wondering whether she was truly in good spirits or just forced herself to appear this way; and even though gradually he had learnt to read all those little signs that gave away her mood he was still concerned about her always keeping everything bottled up inside her; he knew full well that this tactic would not do her good in the long run. This was one of the reasons he approved of Harima spending time with her, although he was nothing like the upper-class companions her parents usually asked her to go out with; he had noticed early on how Ojou-sama was much more relaxed around him than with anyone else; how she seemed…happy, even when they were fighting. Furthermore, he acknowledged that despite the fact that Harima was hardly an 'eligible' match for a young lady of Eri's status, when it came to dignity and integrity he was a whole lot better than all those high-society young men. His attitude was rough but sincere; he had never once sucked up to her in order to get something out of her, in fact he didn't even seem aware that he had managed to get engaged to one of the most coveted young ladies in Japan. Nakamura understood why Ojou-sama appreciated this straightforwardness of his, so distinctly different from the hypocrisy of her environment; he understood why she was so much more outspoken with him than with all others, even her own parents. But he had never realized just how much she had come to care about him until now; this was the first time he had seen his lady so uncaring of appearances, so…emotional. Only now when he saw her like this did it dawn on him how much Harima meant to her; only now did he understand that the person who gave her strength was also her greatest weakness.

A tortuous, seemingly endless wait followed; the silence in the room was broken only by the soft, muffled sobs coming out of Eri's chest. Then suddenly one of the two doors of the room burst open and Osakabe-sensei rushed in. She was not alone; Yakumo, Sarah and Akira came in behind her. After Nakamura's first phone call Itoko was feeling uneasy, although she wasn't sure why; and so instead of leaving for home after her work was done she had gone to the tea ceremony club room for a cup of tea. She often did that whenever she was stressed out, the delicious tea and the girls' quiet company always had a calming effect on her. So she had headed there today as well in the hope of unwinding a bit, and it was there that she got Nakamura's second call, informing her about her cousin's injury. The girls heard her talking on the phone and realized something bad had happened; worried sick about it they had insisted on coming along too and she had not been able to refuse them.

The second she got a good look at Eri's face Akira went over to her immediately and put her arm around her friend's shoulders in a very uncharacteristic display of affection; but again Eri didn't say a word, just looked at her with tearful eyes and a face twisted in anguish. Yakumo stared at her in shock; what on earth had become of the proud, unbending Sawachika-senpai she knew? Something very serious must have happened for her to be in that state; beside herself with worry she turned anxiously to the butler, looking for an explanation.

Osakabe-sensei turned towards Nakamura as well. "Nakamura-san, please, tell us what happened," she demanded, her own anxiousness evident on her face. Nakamura saw no reason to refuse her; after what had happened there was no point in concealing this affair any longer and besides as Harima's family she had the right to know everything. So he briefly relayed to her what had happened; the threats to kidnap Eri and her confinement indoors, how he had been fooled by the kidnappers and left her to go home alone and how Harima had protected her and delayed them until he arrived, getting injured as a result.

"I see," Itoko said simply when she had heard everything. Akira squeezed her friend's shoulders and forced her to look into her eyes. "This is not your fault, Eri," she said with emphasis, staring intensely at her friend. Eri's eyes, swollen with tears, met with her gaze for a second, then she looked away again. "It doesn't matter," she said in a barely audible whisper. "If he doesn't wake up…nothing matters anymore."

Then she fell silent again, her eyes fixed on the door, waiting. No one said anything further except for Sarah who pulled out her rosary and started praying in a low voice. Yakumo, too, was staring at the door in agony, silently begging whatever gods she knew to help Harima-san recover. For all her concern about him though, she couldn't help but notice Eri's complete absence of reaction to her presence there. Every time she saw her together with Harima-san Sawachika-senpai always acted rather hostile to her, although she tried her best to suppress it; but now she seemed…completely indifferent.

She didn't think about it for more than a few seconds, though; what was important now was Harima-san's condition, everything else was beside the point. After a long while of heart-wrenching waiting, the door finally opened and a doctor walked in. Like an automaton come to life, Eri sprang up in a flash and ran towards him, barely avoiding tackling him to the ground. "How is he, doctor?" she exclaimed anxiously.

The doctor looked at the disheveled and teary-eyed girl in front of him in surprise for a second, then he started explaining. "He's still unconscious," he said. "On the bright side, the CT scan did not show any signs of brain damage or internal bleeding, so the most likely diagnosis is that of a concussion. There is often a period of unconsciousness in such cases; you could say it is the brain's way of giving the body time to heal." Everyone brightened up a little, but their relief was only momentary because he immediately added, "Of course, brain damage is not always evident on the initial tests, so we can't rule out that possibility until the patient regains consciousness. For now we shall keep him here and if there is no change we will repeat the CT scan in a few days."

So basically nothing was certain yet – not even whether Harima would wake up again or not. "You should return home now," the doctor went on. "There is nothing you can do for him right now anyway, so you might as well get some rest…of course, you will be notified as soon as there is any change."

"I'm staying with him," Eri said resolutely. The doctor let out a sigh of frustration. "Like I said, miss, your presence here won't make any difference," he said. "Besides, only family members are allowed to stay overnight with the patients…"

"I'm his fiancée. I'm staying." Nakamura sighed as well; it was perfectly clear to him that his Ojou-sama was determined to have her way about this no matter what. Then it occurred to him that her staying here would give him the freedom to take care of something just as important. He walked up to the doctor and whispered something discreetly in his ear; nobody heard what was said but it was obvious he informed him about the young lady's identity, because the doctor's attitude instantly became a lot more deferential. "Well…I'm sure an arrangement can be made," he said politely. "I believe there is a vacant VIP room which can accommodate family members as well; I will inform the nurses to move him there."

"I want to stay too," Yakumo suddenly spoke up. Everyone turned to look at her in surprise – everyone but the person she expected would react the most. As soon as she got her wish to stay with Harima Eri had relapsed to her previous state of obliviousness once more, completely indifferent to what went on around her. The doctor let out another frustrated sigh. "I believe I already mentioned that only family members are allowed to stay with the patients," he said severely, turning towards the black-haired girl. "What is your relation to the patient?"

"I'm…" It was right at this moment when for no reason, no reason at all, Hirayama-kun's questions came back to Yakumo's mind. 'What is Harima-senpai to you…and what are you to Harima-senpai?' Like she had promised him, those two months after the field trip she had thought long and hard about this. For hours and hours she had thought back on their times together, on how he treated her and on how she felt during those times. Despite her efforts she hadn't yet been able to come to a conclusion…or so she thought; but now, right now, all of a sudden the answer to the second question at least was crystal clear.

"I'm…his Imouto-san," she said loud and clear. Everyone except Eri looked at her in surprise again, but no one contradicted her statement. "Oh, his little sister?" the doctor said. "Well, in that case I suppose it's all right for you to stay too, but I really cannot allow any more family members."

As if having made up her mind, Itoko nodded to herself without saying anything; technically she was the only one who actually had the right to stay with Harima, but she understood the two girls' need to be by his side. Nakamura, who had been talking on his cell phone for the past few minutes, after shutting his phone he stepped over to his lady and looked down at her. "Ojou-sama…I will let you stay here with Harima-sama, but in exchange I want you to promise me that you won't take even one step out of this hospital unless you hear from me. Can I trust you to do that?"

Eri nodded at once; she had no desire to leave this hospital as long as Harima was in it anyway. "Thank you," Nakamura said. "Osakabe-sensei, can I have a word?"

He pulled Itoko a little farther off and said in a low voice, "I believe Ojou-sama is going to be safe as long as she stays in here – there are too many people around for the kidnappers to make another attempt, and I've already arranged for additional security to be posted outside. However, if it's not too much to ask, I would like you to keep an eye on her as well while I'm gone."

"Where are you going, Nakamura-san?" Itoko said in surprise. "Those criminals are still at large," Nakamura said seriously. "We cannot rest easy until they are caught and confess who is behind them. I've seen what they look like and I have their car's license plate so I believe I can successfully apprehend them, but my first priority is Ojou-sama's safety. If it's you watching over her, I can go on my mission without worries."

"Understood," Itoko said crisply. "Do what you have to do; I will see to it that Sawachika-san is kept safe. After all, that idiot cousin of mine almost got himself killed to protect her; the least I can do is not let his efforts go to waste."

"Thank you," Nakamura said gratefully. "If Ojou-sama requires anything from the mansion, ask Masaru and he'll give it to you." Just then the door opened again and a stretcher appeared with Harima on it – evidently still unconscious. Everyone followed to the room where he would be staying; there was an adjoining room next to it for the girls to sleep in. As soon as the nurses settled him into bed Eri went and sat by his side, taking his hand between hers and looking only at him – nothing else seemed to matter to her. Yakumo went in as well and sat on the other side, silently staring at both of them, while the rest of the group watched through the open door.

"Visiting hours are over," one of the nurses said pointedly to the ones outside. "…I suppose this is our cue to leave," Itoko said. Turning to Sarah and Akira she added, "Sarah-chan, if you'd like you can stay over at my apartment for the time being, and we'll go to school together tomorrow. I imagine you wouldn't like to be all by yourself in the house."

"Thank you, sensei – I'd like that very much," Sarah said gratefully; it was true that she'd rather not be alone at the moment. Then she thought of something and asked, "Um, what should we say if anyone asks why Yakumo and the others are absent?"

"If it's your classmates, try not to go into details; the same goes for you, Takano-san," replied Itoko, turning towards Akira. "As for the teachers, tell them to ask me; I'll write up an excuse for their absence as well, so they won't get into any trouble with the school."

"Sensei, is it okay if I tell Mikoto at least? She's our best friend, so I'm sure she'd want to know…and you may rest assured she won't babble about it," Akira said. "…That's fine, I suppose, but don't tell anyone besides Suou-san; we can't have the whole class parading in here," Itoko said. "Now then, let's get going; we'll drop you off on our way too, Takano-san. We'll come again after school tomorrow." After one last look at the room she headed outside accompanied by the two girls, with Nakamura and Masaru following behind them.

They separated outside the hospital; Osakabe-sensei took Akira home and then returned to her apartment together with Sarah, while Nakamura and Masaru went back to the mansion. "Masaru, stay here and look after the house while I'm gone," Nakamura instructed him. "Osakabe-sensei will watch over Ojou-sama at the hospital, so make sure you do whatever she asks of you." Then he went to his quarters and changed out of his butler uniform and into military gear; after making sure he had all the equipment he needed with him he went out the door and vanished into the night.

SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR

The hospital room was completely silent; the only sound that could be heard was the faint but steady dripping of the IV drip hooked on Harima's arm. Eri was still sitting beside him with his hand clasped between hers, constantly watching his face for any sign of awareness. She hadn't stopped crying; she wasn't sobbing anymore but the tears were still rolling down her cheeks continuously and falling down on her uniform. A few hours had already passed since they were settled in that room, and during that time Yakumo hadn't heard a single word out of Sawachika-senpai's mouth; she hadn't even turned to look at her.

It didn't feel like she was being ignored though; more like, it was as if her being there didn't mean a thing to the other girl. Yakumo had expected Sawachika-senpai to object when she had expressed her wish to stay with Harima-san – say she wasn't needed, or that she had no business staying, anything – but much to her surprise Eri hadn't reacted at all, she hadn't spared her even one angry glance. And now she was sitting right across her, showing her a face she'd normally die before showing anyone – a face wet with tears, contorted with pain and fear. Yakumo had never expected to see Sawachika-senpai in such a state in this lifetime; she was always so strong and strict and loth to show her emotions, but now all Yakumo could see was a woman in love, torn with agony for her beloved.

There was no denying it, this was love, Yakumo could see it plain as day now. It wasn't totally unexpected; since last year already she had realized Sawachika-senpai had feelings for Harima-san, even though she had always denied it with such persistence. But she wasn't sure how much of it was love and how much possessiveness, a desire to conquer someone who wouldn't fall for her charms immediately like everyone else; maybe also a desire to antagonize her, who was just as popular with men, even though Yakumo had never cared about being popular in the first place and didn't think Sawachika-senpai cared much about that either, despite all she said. Unlike other girls she had seen Sawachika-senpai wasn't really a flirt, although she certainly gave that impression at first glance; kind of like Yakumo herself, she attracted men but didn't let them get close to her – with the one exception now lying unconscious between the two of them.

However, unlike her own peaceful and affectionate relationship with Harima-san, Sawachika-senpai's relationship with him had always been rocky and tempestuous, with numerous ups and downs and a whole lot of legendary fights. Yakumo had lost count how many times both of them had declared they hated one another, called each other names, or how many times Harima-san had been beaten to a pulp at the hands of the hot-tempered girl. And yet they seemed incapable of leaving each other alone; no matter how vehemently they argued or what misunderstandings came between them somehow they'd always wind up entwined together again. For the longest time Yakumo had no clue what to make of this odd entanglement of theirs, much less how they felt about each other. On the surface there was no reason to assume they were in love; Harima-san was hopelessly in love with her sister, while Sawachika-senpai would not admit for the world that she had even the slightest interest in him. But despite all this the bond between them was ever present, pulling them back together every time they seemed to grow apart. And over time Sawachika-senpai's feelings at least became more transparent to those around her; Suou-senpai and Takano-senpai noticed her interest in Harima-san, and so did Yakumo; only the man himself was ignorant of it, since he was too obsessed with Tenma to notice anyone else. But when Yakumo had finally told him about Eri's feelings straight out and he had confronted her, all he got was denial and more denial; and because of that Yakumo had begun to second-guess her assumption – maybe Sawachika-senpai wasn't truly in love with him after all. It was no surprise she couldn't be certain of Eri's feelings, considering that at the time Yakumo wasn't even sure about her own emotions towards him; on one hand she cared about him, on the other she was fully aware he was in love with her sister and she wanted them to be together if that would give him happiness. Her mind was a mess of conflicting emotions and the sad thing was that even now, after all this time, a good part of them remained unresolved.

Then Tenma had left and Harima-san had disappeared for a couple of days, only to return battered and bruised but more or less resigned to his loss. Yakumo didn't know about his encounter with Eri at the shrine, of course, but from that time onwards she had felt a certain shift in their relationship. First off it was how Harima-san had struggled so insistently to prevent her from leaving school, even going as far as getting engaged to her – it was the first time he had concerned himself so much with someone other than Tenma. And afterwards…they would still fight, of course, and Sawachika-senpai wasn't any gentler with him than before, but for all her superficial rudeness Yakumo could tell she was more open with him and less inclined to push him away, while he, too, seemed to have accepted the fact that she was someone he cared about, just like he cared about Yakumo and the rest of his friends. But Sawachika-senpai didn't see him as just a friend…she had feelings for him, just like Yakumo had. At least, that's what she believed until now…but tonight, during the long hours of their vigil, Yakumo was finally beginning to understand that Sawachika-senpai's feelings were actually very different from her own.

For one thing, she was a lot more possessive of him than Yakumo was, that was for sure. She tried her hardest not to show it, most likely out of pride, but the fact remained that because of him she had even quarreled with Tenma – no other male had ever managed to come between her and her friends up till then. Yakumo honestly didn't know how Sawachika-senpai would react if Tenma had noticed and accepted Harima-san's feelings – although the most likely possibility was that she would give up. But one thing she knew for sure – if such a thing ever happened, more than anything she would be happy for the two of them. She would have wholeheartedly given them her blessing, and she would have been content to watch over their happiness as family. Sawachika-senpai on the other hand…would not be happy. She might not say anything, she might walk out of his life without looking back, but she would not be happy to see him at another woman's side, even if it was one of her best friends.

At long last Yakumo realized that love and possessiveness were not mutually exclusive; on the contrary, they went hand in hand. Love is not always pure and noble; it can also be petty, and greedy, and jealous. What she had been suspecting after having talked with the girls on the field trip, and what Hirayama-kun had said as well – that there are many kinds of attachments among people – now she could truly grasp what that meant.

Different women, different loves – even though they were for the same person. Yakumo still didn't know the answer to Hirayama-kun's first question – what was Harima-san to her – but she was certain now that he wasn't what he was to Sawachika-senpai. She cared about him very deeply, and now she was worried sick for him; but that pain, that despair she saw in the other girl's eyes…Only once before had she seen something like that; in her sister's eyes, when Karasuma-san had rejected her. Whether she liked it or not, she could no longer dismiss Sawachika-senpai's feelings for Harima-san as a rich girl's whim or a passing interest. But more important than that was to finally figure out whether her own feelings for him measured up to that.

However, that and everything else would have to wait for when he woke up. _When, _she told herself bracingly. _It's when, not if. He'll open his eyes for sure; I know he will._ All this time she knew him, if there was one thing she was always certain about it was her faith in him and somehow even now, that faith gave her confidence that everything would be all right.

Of course, that wasn't to say she didn't fear for his life; much as she believed in him this fear was always there, weighing her down, exhausting her. As the hours passed she was feeling more and more weary; she thought she'd never be able to fall asleep that night, but Yakumo had always been an easy sleeper, she'd fall asleep in the most unlikely places. Plus the day's fatigue and the agony of those last hours only wore her out more; and at some point without realizing it she drifted off to a fitful sleep.

A couple of hours later she woke up again, feeling cramped all over for having slept in a chair. Without moving much she opened her eyes and looked across the bed again. Eri was rooted in the exact same spot as before, she didn't seem to have slept at all. She was still bending over Harima, crying and holding his hand between hers. Every now and then she brought it to her lips, kissing it, wetting her with her tears. Yakumo stared at her for several minutes, her chest tight with pain, but she took no notice of her. And after a while, for the first time in many hours now, Yakumo heard her voice – it had to be her voice, although the faint, beseeching whisper that reached Yakumo's ears sounded nothing like her.

"…Wake up, Kenji," she murmured, gazing pleadingly at the unaware Harima. "I don't care if you don't ever love me, just…please…wake up…"

Then a flash of anger shot across her face and she squeezed the hand she was holding tightly. "No, that's not right, you idiot," she said, her eyes burning feverishly. "I _do_ care; I do, so don't you dare go off on your own again. I won't let you leave me behind this time, you hear? If you don't come back I'll come to find you instead, and God help you when I do!"

Yakumo jolted in fear as she heard her say this; surely she wasn't thinking of…? No way, she couldn't possibly mean that, this was just her agony speaking, right? Still, Yakumo resolved to watch over her as closely as possible from now on; if she became more desperate who knew what she might do. She looked at the comatose Harima again, praying fervently that he would open his eyes and hoping that somewhere deep down he knew it wasn't just his life at stake here.

The next hours passed in about the same fashion. Eri was still sitting by Harima's side, crying and talking to him; sometimes begging him to wake up, sometimes scolding him, sometimes just whispering his name. As she grew more tired her voice became more and more faint, and when morning came she fell silent again and just sat there, looking at him with eyes blurred with tears.

All this time Yakumo had been watching silently, now worried for both of them. Harima-san remained as unconscious as ever, and now Sawachika-senpai's condition was also a cause of concern. It should be more than twenty-four hours since she'd last slept any, and yet she showed no sign of dropping off even for a few minutes. Yakumo had got at least a couple of hours' rest, while she had none; she ought to be positively exhausted by now. Moreover there was the need for food, as Yakumo's stomach reminded her at some point. Neither of them had had anything to eat since yesterday and they needed to replenish their energy. When the nurses came in for Harima's morning check-up Eri reluctantly moved away from the bed for a bit to let them do their job, although she didn't leave the room; Yakumo on the other hand took the opportunity to go down to the hospital's cafeteria for a few minutes. There she bought a jam bread which she ate hastily on the spot, washing it down with a cup of tea; then she bought a couple more together with a pot of tea and went back up.

Eri had resumed her position by the side of the bed; she wasn't crying for now but she seemed to be barely holding back her tears. Yakumo set her things on the side table and approached her cautiously. "Sawachika-senpai…you should eat something," she said gently, offering her the jam bread. "You must be hungry."

But Eri shook her head. "I can't," she said in a hoarse whisper, addressing Yakumo for the first time. "I know you're right, Yakumo…but nothing goes down…"

"At least have some tea; it'll help you stay awake," Yakumo insisted. She poured some into a plastic cup and brought it over to her, holding it to her lips. Eri gulped down a little and immediately felt a bit better; her throat was parched after so many hours of crying and the warm tea was soothing and invigorating. Almost without realizing it she drained the cup and Yakumo immediately poured her another. This time she added plenty of milk and sugar as well; from the looks of it, Sawachika-senpai wasn't going to accept any other food for the time being so she might as well make the tea as nourishing as possible.

For the next few hours she kept giving her tea at regular intervals, in an effort to replenish her fluids at least. Just like she expected, Eri accepted the tea but wouldn't eat any solid food; Yakumo hoped the milk and sugar in the tea would be enough to sustain her for now. She was more concerned about her sleep-deprivation though; Eri seemed slightly better after she had drunk a few cups of tea but still dead tired. Nevertheless she didn't seem at all inclined to get some sleep, not even right there in the chair. "Sawachika-senpai, you can't go on like this," Yakumo told her around noon, after giving her yet another cup of tea. "You have to get some sleep, otherwise you'll collapse…"

Taking her eyes momentarily off Harima, Eri turned her tormented face towards her. "I want to – I want to sleep," she whispered painfully. "But every time I try to close my eyes…I get this fear that when I open them again he won't be here anymore." Her voice broke off and burying her face in her hands she burst into tears again. "Oh God…what am I going to do if he never wakes up?"

"He'll wake up," Yakumo said steadily. "Harima-san is the strongest person I know; he's faced so many misfortunes but was never brought down by any of them. He won't be defeated by something like this either. We just have to wait for him – and believe in him."

Eri looked back at her and for the first time seemed to calm down a bit. For a few seconds they stared at each other without saying anything; then Eri focused her attention on Harima again. She watched him as attentively as ever, but she didn't cry anymore; it was as if her despair had given way to a grim determination.

More hours passed in the same fashion, with Eri watching over Harima and Yakumo watching over both of them. At times it looked like Eri would fall asleep but every time she was about to drift off she suddenly jerked awake; she was probably too tense to fall asleep despite her exhaustion. Yakumo was quite exhausted herself but she was afraid to leave her on her own so she fought back her sleepiness with tea, making sure Sawachika-senpai drank plenty of it as well. Still, by the time school ended she could barely keep her eyes open.

Shortly after school ended Sarah, Akira and Osakabe-sensei came again, this time bringing Mikoto as well. Osakabe-sensei went to find the doctor first to get an update on her cousin's condition, while the three girls went ahead to the room. Needless to say, all of them were astonished to see how tired the two girls looked. "My word, Yakumo, you must be about to collapse!" Sarah exclaimed, looking at her anxiously.

"I am…rather tired," Yakumo admitted in a low voice; no point in trying to deny it. "Sawachika-senpai is worse off, though."

"Oh my gosh, you're right, Eri looks like a ghost!" Mikoto said, alarmed by her friend's condition. She and Akira went over to Eri worriedly, but she barely noticed them. "At this rate, she'll need to get hospitalized too!"

"Has either of you got any sleep?" Akira asked. "I did, for a couple of hours; but Sawachika-senpai hasn't," Yakumo said. "I think she's too stressed to fall asleep."

"And I take it she hasn't eaten anything either," Akira said, and Yakumo nodded affirmatively. "I managed to give her some tea, but she won't have anything else," she said with concern.

"Figures," sighed the older girl. For a few moments she looked at Yakumo inquisitively, but she didn't ask anything else. Yakumo was grateful for that; she'd rather not reveal what she had heard Eri say during the night, unless it was absolutely essential.

"What about you, Yakumo, have you been eating properly?" Mikoto asked. "I had a bite in the morning…but after that…" Yakumo stopped short, unsure what to say; how was she to explain that she was afraid to leave Eri alone without supervision? Akira seemed to understand at least partly what was going on, because she sighed again and said, "I see…it must be hard on you, Yakumo, having to watch over both of them…"

"…It can't be helped," Yakumo said quietly. Just then Osakabe-sensei opened the door and joined them. "The doctor said there is no change – well, that much is obvious," she said, giving a concerned look at her cousin, then turned her attention towards the girls. "How are you two holding up?"

"Both of them need to rest…but I don't think Eri can be convinced to leave the room for now," Akira said. "Yakumo, at least you should take a break now that we're here. Why don't you go with Sarah to get something to eat and then sleep for a few hours? We'll keep Eri company in the meantime and try to get her to sleep for a bit at least."

Yakumo nodded gratefully and went to the cafeteria with Sarah for a quick bite. A short while later they returned, carrying a bunch of energy drinks. Just like she expected, during their absence the others had tried to persuade Eri to get some rest as well but to no avail. Before going to the adjoining room to sleep she handed over the drinks to her senpais. "If she still won't change her mind, make sure she drinks these," she said. "They'll help keep her energy up." Then she went to the next room and slept for a few hours, until it was time for visitors to leave. While she was resting Osakabe-sensei and the girls stayed with Eri, trying to get her to eat something or sleep for a while too but again without success; they barely managed to get her to have a couple of those energy drinks. When Yakumo woke up again, ready for another long night, she found them seriously worried about Eri's condition; even more than her refusal to eat or sleep they were concerned about her apathy. She had barely spoken to them all this time and although she wasn't hysterical or anything this withdrawal to herself was quite alarming. "Do you think we should get her out of here?" Mikoto asked discreetly while Yakumo was seeing them off.

"I don't believe there's any force in the world capable of making her leave here," Akira said and the others nodded in agreement as well. "Even if we took her against her will we couldn't stop her from worrying, so she might as well stay here. Yakumo…it's a lot to ask, but keep an eye on her, will you? I think that out of all of us you're the one who understands her the most right now."

"I agree," Osakabe-sensei said. "This is a burden no child should have to bear, but you seem to be the only one who can get through to her at the moment." "I know," Yakumo said simply. "I'll do what I can for now…and if things get out of hand I'll let you know." The others thanked her and left, after promising to come again tomorrow.

The next two days passed the same way; Valentine's day came and went without anyone noticing. Eri was half dead from lack of food and sleep, but she hung on to her consciousness through sheer willpower; however, she would definitely have collapsed without Yakumo taking care of her, keeping her hydrated and encouraging her whenever she was getting too desperate. The other girls and Osakabe-sensei helped too; they came every day after school to relieve Yakumo for a few hours but they were no more successful in communicating with Eri than on the first day; for some reason Yakumo was the only one she seemed to listen to. They didn't exchange more than a few words during those days but somehow their common concern for Harima had bonded them together in a unique way.

It was late morning on the fourth day after Harima's admission to the hospital, and the two of them were in the room as always, sitting together in silence. Yakumo's head was hanging down drowsily; even with their friends relieving her for a few hours in the afternoon she still wasn't getting nearly enough sleep and she was usually quite tired in the morning. Then suddenly she was brutally awoken by a clatter coming from the other side of the bed. Startled, she looked up and saw that Eri had sprang up and was bending over Harima with unusual liveliness; the sound which had awoken her was her chair that had fallen down. Quickly Yakumo stood up as well and approached to see what was the matter; at first she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, then she noticed what Eri had seen first: Harima's eyelids were twitching ever so slightly.

"Kenji? Kenji, can you hear me?" Eri was saying anxiously, squeezing his hand between hers. "Harima-san? Are you awake?" Yakumo asked as well, her heart pounding excitedly. For several moments there was no other sign that he had heard them save for that slight twitch, then slowly, very slowly, his eyelids fluttered open.

"…Ojou…? …Imouto-san…?" he managed to say sluggishly a few minutes after opening his eyes to the two girls hovering restlessly above him. "…Wh…where am I?"

"In the hospital," Eri said, tearing up with happiness this time. "Don't you remember anything?"

"…Hospital…?" He furrowed his brow, trying to remember. "…Yeah…there were those guys…and we were fighting…and…Hey, you alright?" he asked and turned abruptly on his side, grabbing Eri's hand.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, just stay down," Eri said hurriedly, pushing him back on the bed. "You just woke up, you shouldn't move around yet…"

"Sawachika-senpai, we should alert the doctor; I'm sure he'll want to examine Harima-san now that he's awake," Yakumo said, pressing the button for the nurse. A few seconds later a nurse walked in; seeing the patient awake she left and returned a few minutes later with the doctor. The two girls stepped outside to let him examine Harima, during which time Yakumo took the opportunity to text their friends about the good news.

A few minutes later the door opened again and the doctor summoned them inside. "Well, I'm pleased to say everything seems to be in order," he told the girls with a smile. "I'll schedule him for a CT scan in a few hours and if there are no anomalies, we'll just keep him for a few days for observation and then he'll be free to go home."

"That's great news," Yakumo said happily while Eri merely smiled, too exhausted to say anything. Now that the crisis was finally over all the fatigue she'd been fighting back took ahold of her, threatening to crush her at any moment. Moreover she suddenly found herself at a loss for words; while he was unconscious she had spoken to him without any restraint, but now that he was awake her tongue was tied again. Cautiously she stole a glance in his direction; he seemed a bit dazed but other than that he was pretty much his usual self, and that unnerved her even more.

After giving a few instructions about food intake and the like the doctor and the nurse withdrew, leaving the three of them alone once again. An awkward silence fell in the room; Eri was fidgeting nervously, not daring to meet Harima's eyes, while Yakumo was looking at both of them hesitantly, unsure what to say. "S-so, how are you feeling, Harima-san?" she finally asked, in an effort to break the uncomfortable silence.

"My head hurts." He didn't sound like he was in much pain, but this statement caused Eri to momentarily forget her discomfort and raise her head in concern, allowing him to get a good look at her face for the first time. He was really startled by how horrible she looked; her pretty face was white as paper and blotched with tears and her eyes were red and puffy, with huge dark circles underneath. "You know, you look like hell," he told her without thinking.

"…Idiot." Even that was said half-heartedly, without any real anger. Right now all Eri could feel was exhaustion; the only thing she wanted was to sleep. "Yakumo…do you mind taking over here for a while?" she asked, tiredness evident in her voice. "I think…I'd like to get some rest…"

"Go right ahead, Sawachika-senpai," Yakumo said eagerly, relieved that she was finally going to get some sleep. Eri nodded slightly and without another word she headed for the adjoining room; her hand was on the door handle when she heard Harima's voice behind her. "Hey, Ojou…"

She half-turned and looked at him expectantly without saying anything. "When I woke up just now…what was it you called me?" he asked.

She paused for a bit. "…'Hige', what else would I call you?" she said. He stared at her for a few seconds, then nodded his head. "Yeah, that's what I thought too." Silently, Eri turned around again and went to the other room. Without even bothering to take her clothes off, she flopped on the mattress and slept like the dead.

Harima kept staring at the door whence she had left with a slight frown on his face. He was kind of peeved by her reaction, or rather the lack of it. To be sure, he wasn't expecting her to throw herself into his arms or anything, but wasn't she way too cold? Was it because of what he had told her just now about how she looked? He didn't mean anything by it, just said what was on his mind without thinking…and anyway it was no lie, she really did look awful. "I know it wasn't a very nice thing to say, but she didn't have to get that mad," he muttered under his breath.

"She's not angry with you, Harima-san." Surprised, he turned to look at Yakumo who was busily fluffing his pillow and straightening the bed sheets. "Sawachika-senpai is exhausted, that's all. She was here all this time you were unconscious, and hasn't got any sleep."

"What do you mean, hasn't got any sleep?" he asked in astonishment. "How long was I out?"

"Today is the fourth day," Yakumo said simply. "Then, for three days straight…" He stopped short, suddenly remembering how emaciated Eri's face looked. "Don't tell me she hasn't been eating either?"

Yakumo nodded silently and he flopped back on the pillow with an exasperated sigh. "Geez, and she calls _me_ an idiot." For several minutes he remained silent and thoughtful, then he turned to Yakumo again with an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry, Imouto-san…I caused you a lot of worry, didn't I?" he said.

"No apologies are necessary, Harima-san," Yakumo said seriously. "You did what you had to do, isn't that so?"

He nodded without a word. "Then you have nothing to be sorry for," Yakumo said with conviction. "Just make sure you recover properly."

For the next couple of hours they talked things over in more detail; Harima told Yakumo about what had happened on that day prior to his injury, and she told him more about those three days when he was unconscious. Then the nurses came and took him for his scheduled CT scan and other examinations; by the time they were over it was early afternoon, almost time for school to end. Indeed, shortly after he returned the door burst open and Sarah bounced in.

"Congrats on your recovery, Harima-senpai!" she said happily. "Suou-senpai and Takano-senpai have supplementary classes today so they're coming later with Osakabe-sensei," she explained to Yakumo who was a bit surprised to see her alone. "So, everything's turned out well, huh? You're so taking us out to dinner, Harima-senpai, after making us worry so much!"

"It's the least I can do," Harima said with a smile; he and Sarah had always got along well and during those months the three of them had lived together he had come to think of her as family. Sarah cast a look about the room, noticing Eri's absence for the first time. "Hey, where's Sawachika-senpai?" she inquired, puzzled.

"Sleeping," Yakumo said briefly, and Sarah nodded in understanding. "About time," she said. "It's a miracle she didn't collapse after all this…" She stopped short, directing a questioning glance at Harima. "He knows," Yakumo said.

A while later in the next room over, Eri was awoken by the sound of voices coming from Harima's room. Slowly, she sat up; she felt a bit better after sleeping but still rather weak. No sooner had she woken up than her stomach rumbled loudly, reminding her of her hunger; furthermore she was suddenly aware that she hadn't changed her clothes at all during those three dreadful days and they were rather smelly. Wrinkling her nose distastefully she got out of bed, when her eyes fell on several jam breads and a neatly folded change of clothes lying next to the bed; Yakumo must have put them there. She certainly had a lot to be grateful to her for, she thought as she opened and devoured one jam bread package after the other. When she had eaten her fill she went to the bathroom, washed her face vigorously and changed clothes, finally feeling marginally more human. After she was done for a few minutes she paced about nervously, unsure what to do. There were more than two voices coming from the next room, which meant visitors had come over. Maybe it would be less awkward to go over there now, when there were others around. She was still embarrassed and didn't know how to face Harima, but she couldn't very well stay in there until he got discharged from the hospital. Mustering all her courage she opened the door to the other room where Yakumo and Sarah were sitting with Harima, engaged in casual chatting. At the sound of the door opening the conversation came to a halt and all of them looked towards her, making her feel even more awkward. "Oh, Sawachika-senpai, you're up already?" Sarah asked politely.

Eri nodded and took a seat as well, as far from Harima as possible. A spell of oppressive silence followed once more; not wanting to make the girls feel uncomfortable as well, Eri tried to get the conversation going again. "So…how did the examinations go?" she asked Yakumo, not daring to address Harima in person.

"The results haven't come out yet, but it seems nothing we should be concerned about was found," Yakumo reassured her. Eri sighed with relief and fell silent again, trying to think of something else to talk about without success. Harima hadn't said a word to her as yet but she could feel his eyes on her, and that made her feel more nervous than ever. Yakumo and Sarah were also staring at the two of them restlessly, waiting for something that would break the tension.

After a few more minutes of silence, Yakumo finally decided she'd had enough of this; if those two weren't going to speak their minds with her and Sarah there, then she might as well leave them alone to talk things out by themselves. Decisively she got up and asked her friend, "Sarah, I'm a bit hungry; care to come to the cafeteria with me?" "S-sure," Sarah said, a bit surprised, and got up as well. "But what about Harima-senpai and Sawachika-senpai…shouldn't we get them anything too?"

"The doctor said Harima-san can have only broth for tonight; he'll start eating regular food tomorrow," replied Yakumo. Harima winced at the mention of broth, but didn't say anything. "And Sawachika-senpai had something to eat just now so she shouldn't be hungry yet, isn't that right?" she added, turning towards Eri who nodded affirmatively, blushing a little. Without waiting for any further arguments Yakumo walked quickly out the door with Sarah behind her.

Alone with Harima for the first time after he had woken up, Eri felt so uneasy she didn't know what to do with herself. Striving desperately to find something, anything to say to him she finally asked timidly, "D-does your head still hurt?"

"Come closer, I can't hear you from way over there," Harima said instead of answering. Blushing even more deeply, Eri got up and sat at the chair next to him, previously occupied by Yakumo. "S-so, like I was saying…" she started saying again, but the words faded on her lips as she furtively looked up and caught sight of the stern expression on his face.

"Imouto-san told me what you did," Harima said without preamble, staring straight at her. "It was really stupid."

Eri cast her head down in shame; she understood as well how irrationally she had acted these past few days, and what could she say for herself? That she wouldn't want to go on living if he died, that she loved him more than her own life – how could she possibly say that? "What were you trying to do, kill yourself?" he went on angrily. "I didn't go into all that trouble to save you just so you could starve yourself to death!"

He was right, she knew he was right, that's what made it so hard to say anything back. "I – I know it was stupid," she finally blurted out, still not daring to look him in the eyes. "But I couldn't – when I thought you might die because of me, I just couldn't –"

"Hold it right there," he said sharply. "The decision to stay and protect you was mine and mine alone. I won't have you blaming yourself for something I decided, you got that?"

Eri nodded obediently without even thinking of arguing – whenever he used that tone of voice with her she knew she had no choice but to obey. "If you really do understand, I want you to promise me something," Harima said, eyeing her steadily. "If anything like that happens again, you won't ever act crazy like you did now. You're going to eat and stay strong and take care of yourself so that you can take care of me too. And I'll do the same for you. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes," Eri said still looking down, her heart swelling with so many emotions. How was it that he always knew the right thing to say to her? His words were harsh yet caring; he never indulged her and yet he always had her well-being in mind. Even his first thought when he woke up was about her safety. It was always like this, ever since they first got to know each other; whenever she needed someone to support her he was always there, not fussing over her but coming to her aid every single time she needed him. She could feel her eyes welling up again but she didn't want him to think he had made her cry, so she cast her head further down so that her bangs would hide her face, at the same time struggling to fight back the tears. "…So worried…I was just…so worried…" she murmured almost inaudibly.

Harima's countenance softened for the first time as he was looking at her. True, he had been really alarmed by the way she had acted and his foremost concern was to knock some sense into her; but somewhere deep down he felt a sort of guilty pleasure knowing that she cared so deeply about him. And now, seeing her so close to tears yet trying so hard to hide it…Impulsively he reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards him. Eri didn't resist, just allowed herself to be pulled in his secure embrace, pressing her forehead against his chest and clutching at his robe like a child. "It's okay," he whispered, stroking her hair gently. "We both had it tough, but it's all over now…you have nothing to be afraid of anymore…"

"…This isn't right…" he heard her say in a voice muffled with tears. "…You're the injured one, I should be taking care of you…"

He smiled a little in spite of himself. "Well, I'm not out of here yet," he said soothingly. "As long as I'm in the hospital you can still take care of me. Hush now, don't cry…"

"…I'm not crying," Eri muttered stubbornly, but the shaking of her shoulders and an increasing wetness on his clothes belied her words. He didn't try to get her to admit it though; just kept cradling her in his arms and whispering words of comfort, till at some point he felt her relax against him. Sleep-deprived and worn out with crying as she was, Eri had nodded off again and was now sleeping peacefully.

Harima looked down at her as she slept, his own chest full of all sorts of feelings. The most prominent of them was…yes, gratitude. He hadn't lost her; she was right there with him, and they were both alive. He was infinitely thankful for that; honestly, he felt he didn't have the right to ask for anything more.

And yet he did want more; he didn't even attempt to deny it. Being friends was no longer enough; he wanted to be someone more important to her because she, too, was more important to him than just a friend, he knew that now. That was the reason he had been so worried about her throughout those two trying months, and also the reason he had fought so fiercely to keep her safe. He would have defended any of his friends, but this was different; he had been quite prepared to fight to the death for her – for _her_, not for victory or for his pride. Before, when he fought winning was the only thing that mattered to him; now he didn't mind one bit that he had lost, as long as he had protected her that was more than enough. And…he wanted to keep protecting her. Ojou was strong and smart but there were things out there she couldn't deal with on her own – and he wanted to be there and help her deal with them, just like she had helped him so many times before. Not because he felt he owed her anything, just because it felt right to be by her side.

However, he was reluctant to tell her any of this right now. Not because he was afraid she'd push him away, but rather the opposite. If her reaction to his injury was any indication, right now she was more vulnerable than ever when it came to him. She was grateful to him for having saved her and she felt guilty because he had been hurt in doing so. She'd never refuse any wish of his while in that state, but he would never take advantage of that. He was long past making rash decisions; he wanted to let things settle down again between them and then see how they would both feel about advancing their relationship any further. For the time being he'd just make damn sure nothing else happened to her until this whole blasted affair was behind them. Careful not to wake her he leaned down and planted a kiss on top of her head, and for a long while after that he let her sleep on his chest, watching over her with a light smile. _She's totally made a habit of using me as a pillow and God help me, I think I like it…_

"Well, aren't you active for an injured person." Surprised, Harima looked up and saw Osakabe-sensei leaning against the doorway, with her arms folded in front of her chest. With a teasing smile she walked in and sat next to the bed, looking at him mischievously. "And to think I was actually worried about your recovery…if you're well enough to do _those _kinds of things, then obviously my concerns were for naught."

Contrary to her expectations Harima didn't start yelling in protest or hasten to let go of Eri who was still sleeping soundly. "Keep it down, you vulgar woman," he said in a low voice, scowling at his cousin. "You'll wake her up."

Intrigued by this unusual reaction on his part, Itoko decided to provoke him a little more. "So…shouldn't you tell your cousin and teacher just what is going on here?" she asked, dropping her voice as well. "I mean, most people would think you're up to no good if they saw you like this…"

Harima glowered at her again. "Not that it's any of your business, but I wasn't up to anything," he said tersely. "She just got a little upset, that's all."

Itoko stared at him silently for a few seconds. "Yes, I can imagine that," she said softly, looking at the sleeping girl thoughtfully. "She was really worried about you."

"I know." He said it so simply, without even trying to deny it, Itoko noticed with considerable surprise; this was very unlike him. And the way he looked at the girl he was still holding…it wasn't the goofy lovestruck expression he had when he looked at Tenma, but perhaps something more significant; a tender, serious gaze she had never seen on him before. _There's hope for this foolish boy yet,_ she thought, looking down to hide her smile.

"What the hell, you making fun of me again?" growled Harima, catching sight of her smile. "That's no way to talk to your elders, Kenji-kun," Itoko said with mock seriousness. "Oh, so now you're my elder," he scoffed. "You only remember you're older than me when it suits you."

They'd probably have kept on arguing to no end like usually, if not for Eri who opened her eyes at that moment. For a few seconds she blinked in confusion, then suddenly she realized where she was and also that they were no longer alone. Blushing vividly she pulled away from Harima; he let her go immediately, although not without a small pang of regret. "O-Osakabe-sensei…I beg your pardon," she stammered hastily. "I was a little tired…and it seems I dozed off…"

"There's no need to apologize, Sawachika-san," Itoko said genially. "It's understandable that you're tired after fretting over my worthless cousin here for all these days. You shouldn't have bothered, really; this idiot's only redeeming point is his thick skull."

"…Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking." Even as she said that Eri stole a glance at Harima, expecting him to get angry, but for some reason he seemed rather amused instead.

"By the way, I gave your friends a ride here too; I believe they're outside," Itoko added. "Oh…in that case I'd better go meet them, so if you'll excuse me…" Glad to have an excuse to leave, she quickly walked to the door and out of the room.

As soon as she was gone Harima's face grew serious once more. Turning to his cousin he asked, "Itoko, those guys who attacked us…have they been caught?"

Osakabe-sensei shook her head. "No, not yet," she said. "The night you were brought here Nakamura-san left to chase them down, but he hasn't returned or sent word so I assume he hasn't found them yet."

"So that's why he wasn't here with her…" He had been wondering how come Nakamura wasn't here guarding his mistress from a second attack. "But if he's not here, who was guarding Ojou all this time?"

"Well, there's staff around the clock here, and guards posted outside as well," Itoko said. "As long as Sawachika-san stays within the clinic, she should be safe; that's why Nakamura-san asked her to stay here until he returns."

Harima furrowed his brow for a few moments, thinking, then he raised his head again. "As long as I'm here too, that's okay," he said decisively. "But if he's not back by the time I get discharged, I'm taking her home with me."

"Kenji-kun, that's kind of rash," Itoko objected. "It's safer for Sawachika-san to stay here, where there are professionals to guard her. Besides she's already promised Nakamura-san to stay here…"

Harima was completely unmoved by these arguments. "Well, _I_ didn't make any promises," he said with the same resolve. "Anyway, I'll take full responsibility for that; but I'm not leaving her alone here. Sorry, but I don't trust those professionals of yours one bit; she was guarded by professionals before too, and look what happened. This time around I'm not entrusting her safety to anyone else."

"Why are you going this far?" Itoko asked curiously. "You feel responsible for her because you're engaged to her, is that it?"

Harima looked at her steadily. "Call it whatever you want, but I'm not letting her out of my sight until this is over." Itoko remained silent for a few seconds, staring at him with an unusual expression on her face – if he didn't know any better, he might have thought it was respect. "You've really grown up, Kenji-kun," she said quietly. Then she added cheerily, "Well, there're still a few days until you get discharged – Nakamura-san might be back by then. If not, then we'll see." Harima shrugged noncommittally, although by his countenance it was evident that he hadn't changed his mind at all, but he didn't say anything further.

While the two of them were having this conversation, Eri was busy reuniting with her friends again. She found them as soon as she stepped out of Harima's room, sitting in the waiting-room with Sarah and Yakumo. "Well, look who's back from the dead!" Mikoto exclaimed joyfully as soon as she saw her.

Eri smiled as well and ran to join her friends. "I'm so sorry, you two…I made you worry so much…" she told them with unusual emotion, squeezing their hands.

"Oh, don't mention it," Mikoto said heartily. "You were the one who was worried the most after all. But I have to admit, you gave us quite a scare…so the least you can do to make it up to us is promise not to do such a thing to yourself again."

"I won't, I promise," Eri said earnestly. "Then it's all good," Mikoto said. "We should be grateful that everything turned out well. So, Harima should be going home soon now that he's come around?"

"If all goes well he'll be discharged in a few days' time, at least that's what the doctor said," Yakumo answered. "By the way, Sawachika-senpai," she added, turning to Eri, "I've been thinking I should go to school again starting tomorrow. I've missed a lot of classes already and since Harima-san is pretty much okay there's no point in being absent any longer. Of course, I'll still come here straight after school and stay the night."

"You're right, he should be fine even by himself from now on," Akira said. "What about you, Eri, are you coming to school too?"

"I'd like to, but I can't yet," Eri said. "I promised Nakamura I'd stay here until he comes for me…so, for the time being I can't leave the hospital. I just hope he's all right…I haven't heard from him at all since he left here."

"Nakamura-san can take care of himself; I'm sure he'll be fine," Mikoto said with confidence. "Anyway that works out too; that way you can keep Harima company in the morning and then get some rest when Yakumo returns from school. Now that there's no need to stay up all night it shouldn't be too difficult."

"I suppose so…fortunately the bed in the next room is big enough for both of us," Eri said. "Actually I'm more concerned about the classes I've been missing, and with our college entrance exams around the corner too…"

"Don't worry about that; Mikoto has been taking notes for you all these days, so you shouldn't have any trouble when you return," said Akira. They chatted about it a bit longer, then Mikoto and Akira took Eri to the cafeteria to get something to eat while Yakumo and Sarah returned to the room to join Harima and his cousin. Shortly after the other three girls returned from their dinner it was time for visitors to go so Osakabe-sensei and the girls took their leave, promising to come again tomorrow. Not long afterwards Eri and Yakumo also bid Harima goodnight and went to sleep, exhausted after such an eventful day.

The next morning Yakumo rose early and set off for school; after seeing her off, Eri and Harima found themselves alone once again. And as expected, Eri was once again agitated and uneasy, without a clue what to do with herself. Like she had said yesterday she wanted to look after him, make amends for everything he had been through; problem was, there wasn't much she could do for him in the first place. He didn't have a fever and he could move around freely, so he didn't really need help with anything. For the first couple of hours she paced about nervously, trying to find small things to do and asking Harima every few minutes if he needed anything. At first he kind of liked to see her fuss around him like this; she had never been so nice to him in living memory. As the time passed however, her nervousness started getting to him as well; he understood her good intentions so he tried his best not to show his irritation, but it wasn't easy. He reached his boiling point at around eleven, when the nurse brought him a bland cream-like thing euphemistically called pudding as a mid-morning snack. "Do you need any help with that?" Eri asked when the nurse had left, still hovering over him.

"I'm not disabled, geez," he said irritably. "Get your butt on a chair and sit still for a while, will you?"

Normally that would have earned him a whack on the head at least, but this time Eri didn't say anything; she just pulled back and sat down, looking rather hurt. Letting out a sigh Harima said more softly, "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you, it's just that…I'm not used to seeing you fussing over me like this. It's not like you…and to be honest, it kind of creeps me out."

"…Yeah, I'm kind of creeping myself out too," Eri muttered. "I just wanted to make you more comfortable while you're here…but it seems I'm doing the opposite," she added regretfully.

"Hey, you don't have to be so down about it; you haven't done anything wrong," Harima said. "Anyway, you shouldn't mind me; I guess I'm a bit on edge as well. There's nothing to do here and I'm bored out of my mind." Earlier on he had tried to watch some TV but at this hour there was nothing on but stupid variety shows so he had turned it off again in frustration.

"Yes, it is rather boring sitting in a bed all day," admitted Eri. The doctor had said that for the first day at least Harima should stay in bed, and naturally the hours passed slowly. "Maybe you'd like something to read? I could go buy you a book at the gift shop," she suggested.

"Nah, I doubt they have the kind of books I like to read here," he answered. He had stayed in a hospital a couple of times last year as well, and from his experience all he could get his hands on there were cheap romance novels. "If only I could draw a little," he added wistfully. "That Itoko took my schoolbag home the other day, and she didn't even think of leaving my sketchpad behind at least."

"Well, my schoolbag's still here," Eri said. "I wasn't carrying a sketchpad that time, but if a regular notebook and pen works for you…"

"Sure, it's better than nothing," he said eagerly. Eri hurried to the other room and dug a notebook and pen out of her bag which she handed to him, then settled down beside him again. Harima looked around a bit to find a suitable subject for drawing; in the end he decided on the view outside his window and started drawing it.

For a while after that they sat in silence, Harima drawing and Eri watching him quietly. Just like that time at his house, she enjoyed seeing his professional side; she felt it suited him. When he was done he looked at the drawing carefully for several moments, checking it from various angles with a slight frown on his face; he didn't seem all that satisfied with the result. "What's wrong, don't you like it?" Eri asked curiously.

Harima shook his head. "Hardly my best work," he said disapprovingly. "It's mostly the pen, though; ballpoint pens are no good for drawing. If I had used my pen it would've been a lot better; but it was just to pass the time, so who cares."

"Now that you mention it, I've been wondering where you bought that pen of yours," Eri asked him. "I've never seen one like it before."

"Oh, I didn't buy it; I got it on one of my insane trips, as you call them," he replied. "I had sailed on a tuna fishing boat and…well, lots of stuff happened; to make a long story short, the captain gave it to me as a parting gift."

"A tuna fishing boat? Then…wait, don't tell me this thing was real fishbone? Eww!" she exclaimed.

"What do you mean 'eww', that's my precious working tool, you know," Harima said in a huff. "And I'll have you know it does a hell of a better job than store-bought pens."

"Well, you're the expert on drawing, so if you say so…But really, a tuna fishing boat? What on earth possessed you to do something so extreme?"

"Oh come on, as if I ever needed a reason to flip out and take off," Harima said sarcastically. "You have a point there…but still, it doesn't make sense," Eri said. "I always thought fishing boats are out to sea for many months straight; you were never gone that long."

"You're right…you see, it was the captain who convinced me to go back and start working on my manga again," he said. "He used to be a mangaka too and…even though I spent only a little time with him, he made me understand the right way of drawing manga. He is a man I will always look up to."

Eri was more than a little surprised to hear him speak so respectfully of that man. "If he was such a great artist, how did he wind up a fishing boat captain?" she asked.

"Actually, he wasn't; his manga was kind of crappy," Harima said. "What he taught me was that I shouldn't draw half-heartedly and give up halfway whenever things didn't work out for me; that I can't run away from what I'm meant to do in my life, so I might as well suck it up and keep fighting no matter how much shit the world throws at me. And let me tell you, that's one lesson I'll never forget."

Eri stared at him silently for a while; she had always been amazed by his resilience, his ability to bounce back from every adversity he faced. To be sure, he had his weak moments too; she had seen him down in the dumps so many times but somehow he always found it in himself to keep going. Even when he suffered the pain of rejection…granted, she had helped him too but the strength was already within him, she had merely pushed him to find it. Was that why she was so attracted to him? she wondered. She had always admired strength in people; not the physical, but the mental strength which made a person follow his destined way without wavering, in spite of whatever obstacles might lie ahead. Perhaps that was the reason she had become friends with Tenma as well; Tenma might be naïve, clumsy and sometimes dense beyond belief, but the words 'give up' simply did not exist in her vocabulary. Those two years she had been chasing after Karasuma-kun Eri had seen her fail to get her feelings across so many times; and yet she never lost her smile or her determination. At first Eri had wondered how could she suffer so many disappointments without ever getting fed up; but now that she had someone she cared about too she felt she could really relate to her. Now she knew the feeling of not wanting to give up on someone even when all odds were against her.

"Anyway, I still can't believe you sailed with a fishing boat," she said eventually, picking up the conversation again. "Going on such a voyage on your own…I can't even imagine doing something so reckless."

"Well, in the end I returned almost as soon as I left, so it wasn't that big an adventure," Harima said. Actually his trip wasn't that uneventful; he had almost drowned while trying to save a shipmate who had fallen overboard during a storm, but he figured that telling her this would only frighten her. "Come to think of it, this was the first time I tried to go so far away in the first place. I've been to Nagoya and a couple of other places before, but that's pretty much it; I haven't even been outside of Japan. Between the two of us you're probably the one who's traveled the most."

"If you put it that way, I suppose I am," Eri admitted. "I've been to America and various European countries before…although I must confess it didn't really feel like traveling. I mean, I always went with my parents and it was strictly business."

"I don't get it…what do you mean, 'strictly business'?" he asked, a bit confused. Eri sighed a little and went on to explain, "I mean, we never went on vacation only; there were always social obligations, people to meet, events to attend…Basically it was mostly being stuck in some estate or private yacht, or running from dinner to gala and so forth…that sort of thing."

"So…in other words, you only got to see fancy hotels and posh restaurants, not the place you went to," Harima concluded, and Eri nodded affirmatively. "I'm not saying this to complain, you know; I understand that most people can only dream of going on such a vacation. But like you said…that way I couldn't see what the place or the people were really like. In that sense, I guess my first real trip was when I came to Japan."

"And what did you think of it when you came here?" he asked with a little smile. "Honestly? I thought it was weird…the food, the houses, everything was so different. And the people…at first I had no idea what they thought of me, and I didn't know what to make of them either. For a time I thought I'd never be able to fit in…fortunately the girls helped me a lot with that. Wherever I had gone before, everyone who looked at me saw only my family name and my position…and they were either going after it or scared off by it. Mikoto and the others were the first people I met who didn't care about that…and it made me think that if I could make some real friends here, then this wasn't such a bad country to call home."

"I guess in the end…what we become depends a whole lot on the people we meet," Harima said thoughtfully. "It was the same with me…I changed from the inside out without even realizing it. Sometimes, when I think how I used to be and how I am now, it's downright scary." _And I'm still changing in ways I had never thought possible,_ he admitted inwardly, but he decided not to talk about that for now. In an attempt to lighten the mood instead he asked jokingly, "So…what was the weirdest thing that happened to you when you came here?"

Eri laughed and said, "Well…there was that time when I was invited to this dinner, and because I mispronounced a word the host thought I was making a pass at his wife…" "No way, you're kidding me!" "I swear, it's true! I was so embarrassed I thought I'd never show my face in public again!" Finally forgetting their nervousness they spent the next couple of hours talking and laughing; it almost felt like a date, even though they were in a hospital room. Both of them could see yet again that as soon as they loosened up and forgot that they supposedly hated each other, they invariably had a very good time together. When Yakumo and Sarah returned from school they found them in quite a good mood, and surprisingly enough not at all inclined to kill each other. After their arrival Eri went to eat something and rest for a bit while Yakumo and Sarah stayed with Harima, and later on Mikoto, Akira and Osakabe-sensei joined them as well. Since there was no more reason to worry, this time they only stayed for a short while and then left, taking Sarah with them. Eri and Yakumo sat in Harima's room for a few more hours, Yakumo doing her homework, Eri trying to catch up with the lesson notes Mikoto had brought her and Harima reading the latest issue of the magazine featuring his manga (Yakumo had brought it along, together with a get-well-soon-and-don't-forget-the-deadline message from his editor). After a quiet evening, everyone went to sleep.

The next day after Yakumo had left for school Harima was hauled off again for a complete neurological examination. After a couple of hours of being poked and prodded in various parts of his body he never wanted to have poked or prodded again in his life he was brought back to his room and dozed off once more, in an effort to forget what he had just experienced. A while after he had fallen asleep, Eri thought to go down to the cafeteria and get him something to eat when he woke up – preferably something more palatable than the god-awful pudding he had yesterday. But shortly after she was gone Harima woke up again on his own. He was feeling excessively hot; for some reason the heat was turned up today and he was drenched in sweat. Taking a shower was too much trouble, but he could at least wipe the sweat off and change clothes. Hopping out of bed he went over to the closet and pulled out a spare robe and slacks, then he retrieved a damp washcloth from the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed. He took his robe off, thinking to wipe his upper body first…and just then the door opened and Eri walked in, carrying a bag of snacks. She had just closed the door behind her when she looked up and saw him; letting out a shocked 'kyaah' she dropped the bag and shot back against the closed door. "Wh-what on earth do you think you're doing?" she asked beet red, gesturing frantically and not knowing where to look.

Harima looked up at her in mild surprise. "Wiping myself off," he explained. "It's so hot in here today and I'm sweating like a pig."

Eri calmed down a little; come to think of it, the room was indeed rather hot. "It is, now that you mention it," she admitted, still looking anywhere but in his direction though. "W-well then, I'd better leave you to it," and she hastily turned to go.

"Oh, since you're here could you wipe my back for me? I can't reach it very well," he suddenly asked her. Eri froze where she stood; not only had this request taken her completely by surprise, she was at a loss how to answer it. In any other circumstances she would definitely have said no (and given him a sound thrashing for good measure) but how could she refuse to help him now, when she herself had said she wanted to take care of him? _Me and my big mouth…come on, girl, you can do this._ "S-sure, of course," she said awkwardly, trying her utmost to hide her discomfort, and cautiously approached the bed. Harima bent forward and lowered his head to expose his sweaty neck; Eri's mouth went dry as she saw the well-formed muscles flexing under his dark skin. _Calm down, calm down, calm down. You've seen him completely naked before, for heaven's sake; this is no big deal. No big deal, I say!_ Making a desperate effort to retain her reason she resolutely forbade herself to imagine how it would feel to be pinned under that powerful body and grabbed the washcloth with trembling hands.

She ran the cloth over his back and neck gingerly, taking care to avoid even the slightest direct contact. Much as she tried to focus only on her task and shut out this overwhelming effect he had on her, her heart was pounding so loudly she wondered how come he couldn't hear it; she dreaded that any minute now he'd notice how her hands were shaking and then he'd look up and see how flushed her face was. _No good, I have to think about something else, anything!_ Struggling to find some diversion, she turned her attention to the injuries on his back; there were still numerous wheals and bruises from the fight a few days ago, especially around the ribcage. And a bit further down there was another scar, much older from the looks of it; a long, diagonal slash across his back, similar to a knife wound.

"W-wow, that's one big scar," Eri said nervously, glad to have found something to talk about. "Where did you get that, in a fight?" she asked, running the cloth over it.

"Not just any fight," replied Harima without lifting his head. "I got that one the first time I met Tsukamoto – I've told you about that, right?"

"Yes, but you didn't tell me all the details," Eri said curiously. "Surely you're not saying Tenma did this to you?"

He couldn't help laughing at that. "No, of course not," he said. "There was this guy trying to mug her, and he had a knife; I got in the way and saved her, and that's how I got this scar."

"Oh, I see," Eri said. "But…I don't understand…I remember you said she called you a pervert…Why would she do that when you saved her?"

"…Yeah, well, I haven't figured that one out yet either," Harima said with a touch of his old bitterness in his voice. "I guess you could say this was our first misunderstanding."

For a few moments neither of them said anything; somehow the way he had spoken of this incident made Eri feel really depressed. She could see that even now, after all these months, the pain hadn't left him completely yet. And what if it never left him? she wondered. What if he never let go of the past…she wanted to wait for him to move on, but what if she was destined to wait forever? She didn't want to give him up without a fight, but what if this was something she couldn't win against? All of a sudden she felt the need to have an answer, some sort of reassurance against all those questions plaguing her. "Do you think…it'll ever go away, Hige?" she asked in a low voice as she ran the cloth over his scar one more time.

Harima didn't answer immediately; it was as if he was looking for the right words. "It doesn't hurt anymore," he finally said. "Lately there are times when I forget it's even there…but I don't think it'll ever go away completely."

Eri said nothing, just resumed wiping his back. Wondering about her sudden silence Harima turned his head a little to the side to look at her, but she was facing the other way and he couldn't see her eyes. Without turning to look at him or saying another word she finished wiping his back and moved on to his shoulders and upper arms. "I can do this on my own…" he started saying and tried to take the cloth from her, but she slapped his hand away. "Shut up and stay still," she snapped at him, still looking the other way. "Sick people should rest."

Harima did not insist but he kept on watching her out of the corner of his eye, with a look of evident displeasure on his face. Not so long ago he would have totally missed the sadness in her voice or the way she avoided his eyes, but now he noticed and he didn't like it. Although she was right next to him it felt like she was pulling away from him…it was a cold, unpleasant sensation and more than anything he wanted to dispel it. Even if it meant glaring daggers at him, he wanted her to look at him again; he wanted them to get back to normal by any means possible. Well, he could always try to snap her out of it by making her angry; that usually worked, and by now he had become quite the expert in pissing her off. Without saying anything he let her finish what she was doing, then he said curtly, "Thanks, now get out," a tad more rudely than he ought to.

Just as he expected, his attitude riled Eri up instantly and she turned sharply towards him with blazing eyes. "Say what? Why you uncouth, ungrateful barbarian, you think you can use me like this and then just throw me out?" she shouted at him indignantly.

"Hey, watch that mouth of yours – I don't know what the hell 'uncouth' means but it doesn't sound very nice," growled Harima, glowering at her as well. "Anyway, I told you to get out 'cause I also wanted to change my underwear…but hey, if you want to help with that too that's fine by me," he added indifferently, inwardly waiting for her outburst. _Any minute now…_

Cautiously he stole a glance at her and was hard pressed not to laugh aloud; Eri's face at that moment looked an awful lot like a tomato wearing a blond wig. At first she was too furious to even speak, then came the explosion: "You – you – you perv, how can you ask an innocent girl such a thing!" she cried out, and clenching her small fists she pounced on him. "Whoa, sick person, remember?" he protested half-laughing, raising his hands in front of his face in self-defense. At first he just dodged her attempts to punch him, infuriating her even further; and when she was completely engrossed in trying to land a hit on him he made his move.

He moved so fast that Eri didn't even see him until it was too late; one moment she was trying to hit him and the next she found herself sitting on his lap, one of his hands clasped around her waist and the other gripping her right wrist. Panicked, she raised her free hand to push him off, but then his eyes met hers and her hand just fell limp to her side.

His gaze was so intense, it pierced right through her; she was completely unable to do anything but stare back into his eyes, utterly ensnared. Slowly, Harima guided the wrist he was still gripping to the back of his head and pressed her hand against the small bandage covering his stitches, almost invisible beneath his hair. "Feel that?" he asked in a voice so low that only she could hear him. "I can't see it from here…but I think it's going to leave a scar."

The tension between them suddenly became so thick you could almost cut it with a knife. Eri was paralyzed and shivering helplessly, completely bowled over by what he had done. It wasn't just that he was grasping her so firmly, or that he was freaking _naked_ from the waist up; more than that, there was something about him she had never felt before, something almost…predatory. She didn't know what to make of it…she didn't even dare to contemplate the meaning behind his words. All she knew was that right now she was beyond salvation; even if she was to be miserable for the rest of her life she'd never be able to shake off her feelings for him. Incapable of reacting in any way she just gazed at him with enchanted eyes, fully aware that she was his prisoner forever. _I have no more pride left, Hige,_ she thought as she stared into those deep, penetrating eyes. _Do what you will with me; I'm all yours._

And Harima was staring right back at her, just as fascinated. Finally she was looking at him again, she wasn't turning away from him…and he was so glad for it. At that moment everything he wanted was right there, sitting on his lap, and all he had to do was reach out and just…take it. All he had to do was ask and he could have it all; the soft lips trembling right in front of him, the enticing body quivering in his grasp…everything. He strove to control himself, but she was so darn hard to resist when she gazed at him with those eyes…he was this close to forgetting all his noble decisions of two days ago and surrendering completely to his desires. He felt her fingers move slightly, caressing his wound – that wound he had got protecting her. That's how precious she was to him; would it be so wrong to let her feel it, to make her understand that even if the wounds of the past remained, the wounds of the present were far more important to him? He couldn't help himself, he couldn't fight it anymore, and the distance between them seemed to close all on its own as they inched closer to each other without breaking eye contact…

"Harima-saaan, it's time to take your temperature!" a cheerful nurse's voice sounded from outside. Harima's hands automatically released Eri and she promptly jumped off his lap just as the door opened and a plump middle-aged nurse walked briskly inside, brandishing a thermometer. No sooner had she stepped inside than Eri practically bolted out of the room and rushed down the corridor, too jittery to stay still. Several rooms further down she finally stopped and leaned heavily against the wall, panting and clutching at her thumping heart. This was almost too much for her…she felt so happy and so scared at the same time. But she wasn't going to run away; if there was one thing she was certain of now it was that her place was with him. She stayed there for several minutes, trying to compose herself; when she had finally calmed down she set off to find someone and ask them to turn the heat down. No matter how strong-willed she was, if Hige got sweaty again she didn't think her heart would be able to withstand it.

Harima on the other hand was feeling strangely tranquil, considering all that had just happened. Normally he should be panicking or regretting his actions, but he didn't feel that way at all; instead he had this odd conviction that everything was as it should be. As the nurse took his temperature he lay back on his pillow, staring out of the window with a serene expression on his face and a content smile on his lips. "Well, somebody's in a good mood today," the nurse said cheerily as she was noting down his temperature on the chart. "Did you receive any good news?"

"No, nothing in particular," Harima said with the same complacent smile. "It feels good to be alive, that's all." When the nurse left he leaned back and looked outside again, feeling perfectly at peace with himself. This time he didn't regret either what he had done or that he had been stopped in the middle again. For some reason he was sure that it was all working out for the best and that, when the timing was right, everything would fall into place.

When Eri rejoined him a while later neither of them referred to what had happened; but they didn't avoid each other either. The rest of the day passed peacefully; the only other noteworthy event took place in the evening, when the doctor came to inform them about the results of the examinations. Apparently Harima's brain hadn't suffered any detectable damage, and his head injury was healing well; therefore the doctor was pleased to inform them that they would keep him for one more day and if nothing changed he would be discharged the day after tomorrow. Harima was pleased to hear that he could finally get out of there, but he was more concerned about Ojou; he hadn't forgotten his decision to take her with him. There was no word from Nakamura yet, and he definitely wasn't leaving her all alone there. He had already talked it over with Yakumo and she had agreed with him; all that remained was to convince Eri to leave the hospital. It wasn't going to be easy to get her to break her promise but his mind was made up; he would get her out of there even if he had to carry her outside himself. Still, he decided to wait for another half day; if they didn't hear from Nakamura by tomorrow noon he'd talk to Ojou then and hope she wouldn't put up too much of a fight.

The next morning found Eri and Harima sitting on their own again in his room, reading through some manga Yakumo had brought over to pass the time. A little before noon Eri finished the volume she was reading and excused herself to the cafeteria again to buy something she wanted. Harima remained in the room, engrossed in reading his own volume; but not long after she was gone he heard the door open again. Naturally he thought it was Ojou who had returned, and so he was quite taken aback when he lifted his head and instead of Eri he saw a man in an expensive business suit. Although he had never seen him before, he looked rather familiar; he was tall and stately, and he had the exact same blond hair and amber eyes as Ojou. Therefore he wasn't surprised in the least when the stranger bowed slightly and said in a somewhat foreign accent, "How do you do, Harima-kun; my name is Sawachika, I'm Eri's father."

A few moments earlier Eri was on her way back to the room; just as she was turning around the corridor she saw the back of a man who was going inside. Even though she only saw his back for a second, she recognized her father's figure immediately and stopped dead in her tracks. A myriad of questions popped in her mind; what on earth was her father doing here when he was supposed to be in the middle of negotiations? Why hadn't he called her to let her know he was coming, and more importantly, what did he want with Hige? She wanted to march right in and demand answers to all those questions, but something told her that she might learn more if she lay low for a bit. She tiptoed noiselessly up to the room and flattened herself against the wall, right next to the door; fortunately it was left slightly ajar, allowing her to listen in to whatever was said inside.

For the first couple of minutes she didn't hear anything because the two men in the room were silent, quietly observing each other. After reciprocating his visitor's greeting Harima didn't say anything further, waiting for the older man to speak first. In the meantime he looked at him steadily with his usual stoic expression, betraying no emotion whatsoever. His foremost impression was that this was a man who was accustomed to giving orders and expecting them to be obeyed without question; the kind normal people would not even think of standing up against. And he was quite right; Eri's father was not just of good family, he was a veritable English nobleman, the second son of a Viscount. Since his father's title and fortune would go to his elder brother he had entered the business world from a very young age, in order to make for himself what he could not inherit. Thanks to his family connections but mostly to his abilities he had become remarkably successful in a relatively short time, and eventually his success caught the attention of the head of the wealthy and powerful Sawachika family, who offered him the hand of his only daughter – Eri's mother. Although it was an arranged marriage, they hit it off immediately. Eri's mother was also a remarkable woman, refined but with a strong personality and a natural flair for business. She could have managed the group just fine on her own, but tradition demanded a man as head of the family, which was why it was necessary for her to find a suitable husband who would marry into the family and carry on the Sawachika name. However, she was determined to stay a businesswoman even after her marriage; the group founded by her father was very important to her and she wanted to have a hand in managing it. Fortunately her husband understood her ambitions and being a foreigner he had no prejudices against working women. He acknowledged that his wife's abilities were an asset to the corporation, and so after their marriage and especially after their child was born both of them had thrown themselves into their work, trying their hardest to make the group prosper. Their hard work paid off and now theirs was one of the most successful corporations worldwide, and Eri's father was a man of much higher status than he would ever have been even if he had inherited his father's title. Harima of course didn't know any of this, but his instinct told him that Ojou hadn't got just the looks from her father, but her pride as well. Still, he felt no inclination to act subservient; titles and money never meant much to him, and they most certainly didn't stop him from speaking his mind. He was rather curious as to the purpose of this unexpected visit though; somehow he couldn't believe Eri's father had come such a long way just to pay him a visit of courtesy. And the fact that he had come so suddenly, without telling his daughter about it – Ojou would certainly have told him if she knew her father was coming – that probably meant he wished to speak with him without Eri knowing about it. Anyway, he figured he'd find out what the big secret was sooner or later – probably sooner if Sawachika-san didn't want his daughter to hear about it – so he waited.

At the same time Eri's father was observing him as well; this was his first time seeing his daughter's fiancé up close and he wanted to take a good look at him. Naturally he had already done a background check on him last year, when Eri had dropped the news of her sudden engagement upon them. He hadn't made any objections back then because Nakamura had vouched for the boy's character and because he believed this was just his daughter's rebellious phase and as soon as it passed she'd break off the engagement on her own. But almost a year had passed since then and Eri showed no such intentions; and naturally he was concerned, especially since the information he had got about the young man was not at all reassuring. A delinquent who had run away from home, prone to violent acts, without any academic achievements and dirt poor; what could his daughter possibly have seen in such a person? And more importantly, what future could she have with him? Even though the latest reports he had got were more promising – apparently Harima had stopped fighting, attended school regularly and was starting his career as a mangaka with good prospects – he was still very far from what could be considered an eligible match for the Sawachika group heiress. However, Eri's father knew better than to force his daughter into breaking up with him; he was well aware that this young man must be someone really important to her, otherwise she would never go as far as getting engaged to him. In the past Eri had received countless proposals from men of excellent lineage and breeding, not to mention vast fortunes, but although she had agreed to meet with them when asked, in the end she had turned down every single one of them. Even last Christmas, when he was sure she would accept this time…perhaps that was this boy's doing as well? He had been wondering about that for a while now, and wanted very much to meet face to face with this person who had such a profound influence on his daughter; and so after receiving a certain update about the kidnappers yesterday he had arranged an opening in his schedule to visit him.

Now, as he was looking at him, he had to admit he was rather different from what he had imagined. Not so much look-wise; regarding that he was pretty much the same as in the photographs he had already seen. Clearly working-class, but well-built and handsome in a rugged sort of way; and apparently he didn't completely lack manners, which explained why Saejima-san had taken such a liking to him when he had attended that party at his house last year. But what was really unexpected was this calm, direct way he was staring at him without lowering his eyes. Usually people of lower rank were rather unnerved and intimidated in his presence; some of them tried to put up a tough act, but their nervousness clearly showed through. This quiet dignity was distinctly different and somehow it made him feel defensive, something very unusual for him. After a few moments of silence, he finally started talking.

"I understand my daughter was supposed to be here as well," he said, casting a look about the room, and Harima nodded his head. "She's here, she just went down to buy something at the cafeteria. She'll probably be back soon, so if you wait a bit…"

"Actually I consider it fortunate that she's not here now…I wanted to have a word with you in private," Sawachika-san said, taking a seat. Harima didn't say anything, just waited for him to continue.

"First of all I would like to thank you for saving my daughter from those criminals," Eri's father said solemnly. "And also to apologize for causing you such a grave injury…I am most thankful that you will make a full recovery from it. Of course, you have no need to worry about your medical expenses here; they have already been taken care of."

Harima simply nodded again politely, without any of the usual excessive civilities or profuse expressions of gratitude one would expect in such a situation. After a few more seconds of silence Sawachika-san went on, "Furthermore…you will be pleased to know that those who attacked you were apprehended last night. They have already confessed who was behind them, and I have taken all measures to ensure this person will not make another attempt to harm my daughter. Starting tomorrow, Eri can return to her normal lifestyle in peace."

"I'm glad to hear it," Harima said simply. Then, still looking straight at the other man he said, "But you didn't come all the way here just to tell me that, did you?"

"No, I didn't," Sawachika-san admitted, and Eri outside the room held her breath. "I would also like to ask a favor from you."

Harima remained silent again, waiting to see what he was getting at. Eri's father let a few moments pass and then went on to say, "For some time now, and especially in light of those recent events, I have concluded that it will be best for Eri if she moves back to England after she finishes high school. If nothing else it will be safer for her there, where I can see to her security personally; I have no complaint against Nakamura, but I'd feel more at ease if she wasn't so far away, I suppose. It would be beneficial for her studies, too, if she were to attend a British university; the universities here are excellent as well, but they don't have as much international prestige. Not to mention this was where she grew up in the first place…I wanted her to live in Japan for a few years in order to get to know her mother's birthplace as well, but thinking back on it perhaps it was a mistake on my part to remove her from the environment and social circle she was accustomed to."

_This guy really has no clue what Ojou went through before coming here, _thought Harima as he listened to him silently. Going on about her social circle when she didn't have even a single friend back there…obviously Ojou had never let her parents in on her troubles. He wasn't all that surprised to discover this, since he already knew of her tendency to keep all her problems buried inside her, and also how she never wanted her parents to worry about her. But he did not say anything about it; if Ojou had chosen to keep quiet about this matter it was hardly his place to disclose it, not to mention her father wasn't likely to believe him. "Excuse me but aren't you trying to convince the wrong person here?" he asked instead. "If that's what you think why not tell her yourself?"

"Because I believe she would not be persuaded to leave you on her own, especially now, after everything you've done for her," Sawachika-san said. "But if you were the one to tell her this is for the best for both of you it would be a different matter, so…"

"So you want me to send her away, so that she won't have to make that decision herself," Harima finished the sentence for him with the same composure. "Yes," said Eri's father. "That way leaving here would be less painful for her. Harima-kun, if you really care about my daughter surely you must realize this is the best solution for both of you. This is for the sake of her future itself…so if you want what's best for her you ought to help her make this decision."

For a long time Harima didn't say anything, just gazed at the older man thoughtfully. "You're right," he eventually said in a low voice. "I do want what's best for her."

When she heard him say those words Eri's knees almost buckled, and it was all she could do not to fall where she stood. _I can't believe it…after everything we've been through he's just going to send me on my way? Just like that?_

"But I'm not going to decide that for her," Harima's steadfast voice sounded again and Eri raised her head, torn between agony and hope. "Oj…your daughter has brains enough to figure out what she should do with her life on her own. Whether she should stay here or not is not for me to decide…or for you, even if you are her father."

Sawachika-san raised his eyebrows in surprise; he had expected a lot of different reactions but certainly not this one. Instead of going on about his hurt feelings or about how it would be unfair to break them apart, Harima hadn't spoken about himself at all; rather, he had defended Eri's right to make her own decisions. "Are you saying, then, that I am not qualified to make the right choices for my child? Eri is indeed very smart, but she is very young as well and still needs guidance. As her parent I have nothing but her welfare in mind, and of course I have more experience of the world than either of you. Do you really believe I do not know what is best for my daughter?"

"Do you?" Harima asked back. "I don't know about experience or whatever, but so far I've had to deal with two guys you chose for her, and let's see…one of them was going about calling her a slut right and left, and the other tried to have her kidnapped and raped. Not exactly the best choices, if you ask me."

Eri's father jolted in astonishment; he was so surprised that Harima knew the identity of the mastermind behind the kidnapping that he forgot to get angry at his audacity. "How did you know who it was…?" he asked, astounded.

"I've got some sources of my own," Harima replied cryptically, thinking it would be best not to mention Max for the moment. "Anyway, my point is you might want to have more faith in your daughter's judgement. Not to brag or anything, but the choice she made for herself turned out a lot better than the ones you made for her, so I don't think there's any reason not to let her decide things on her own. Even if she's still a kid she's got a lot more sense than most adults I know."

"Then I gather you will try to stop her from listening to me and leaving with everything you've got, right?"

"Wrong," Harima said. "If she decides on her own to leave I'm not going to stand in her way, nor am I going to blame her for it. But I'm not going to manipulate her to do anything just because I or you or anyone else thinks it's the right thing to do. I'll let her make her own decision and respect it, no matter what it is."

"And are you prepared to support her decision as well?" Sawachika-san asked. "If she decides to stay here on your account then you should be the one to make sure of her safety and well-being; do you have the confidence you can undertake such a responsibility?"

"I protected her this time, didn't I?" Harima said, completely unfazed. "Barely," Eri's father pointed out. "If you had to face even one more opponent you probably wouldn't have held out long enough for help to arrive. What if in the future you come across someone more dangerous?"

"Then I'm going to become even stronger than this," Harima said with the same certainty. "As strong as it takes not to let anything happen to her. If it's just about me being able to keep her safe…if that's what it takes for her to be free to do what she wants, then that's what I'll do."

Sawachika-san leaned a bit forward, studying the younger man's serious face and undaunted eyes. "It seems to me your mind is made up about this…you did not even stop to think you might not want me as an opponent, did you?" Harima gave him a startled look for a second, then shrugged his shoulders. "Opponent? This isn't a freaking contest, you know. You want your daughter to be happy, and that's what I want too; I'm not looking to pick a fight with her family. All I'm saying is she's the one who knows best what makes her happy, so I'm not going to tell her what to do; I'll just support her any way I can, that's all there is to it."

"And you would go to such lengths to support her…why?" Eri's father asked, staring at him intensely. "You two have known each other for less than two years, and even after your engagement you never got along well…oh yes, I know about that," he added, catching Harima's surprised look. "To make such a commitment for someone you fight all the time with…do you feel that strongly about her?"

Eri held her breath again; how was Hige going to answer that? Would he actually admit having feelings for her, or deny everything? Whatever his answer might be, she wasn't sure she wanted to hear it right now. She wanted to run away, but her legs wouldn't move; she just stayed rooted where she was, waiting for Harima's reply with her heart in her mouth.

Harima wasn't sure how he should answer either; lately he was feeling a whole lot of things for Ojou, and he wasn't sure what half of them were. But even if he knew for sure, he wasn't inclined to talk about his feelings with an outsider when he hadn't even said anything to her. On the other hand, denying that he felt anything for her…he wasn't comfortable with that either. "How I feel has nothing to do with this," he finally said firmly. "I've made a promise to her to stand by her side and I'm not breaking it; the rest is nobody else's business but mine. It's the same with you; how you deal with your daughter is your business, not mine, just don't think you can drag me into this too. Whatever you want to do to convince her, you'll have to do it on your own."

"In that case, I suppose there's nothing more to be said," Sawachika-san said, standing up. "I'll be taking my leave now; my best wishes for your recovery, Harima-kun." He seemed rather calm, but his expression was hard to read. "Aren't you going to wait for your daughter?" Harima asked curiously. "She should be back any minute now, and I'm sure she'd be really happy to see you."

"I'm afraid I'm on a tight schedule," replied Eri's father, looking at his expensive watch. "Actually I was on my way to a business meeting in Taiwan, and I should leave immediately if I'm to be on time for my appointment. Besides…" he paused for a second, "right now I'm not sure how I should face her." Without saying anything further, he turned and walked out of the room.

He had barely closed the door behind him when he came face to face with his daughter, who was still standing outside the room. "Eri…" With just one look at her face he understood at once. "You heard."

"Yes," Eri said quietly, staring at her father. There was no anger in her eyes, just the set, determined expression of someone who had made a major decision. Her father took in that expression and let out a small sigh. "It is rather awkward to stand here like this," he said in the end. "Would you like to go get a cup of coffee? I think Harima-kun won't mind if I take you away for a bit."

"I thought you had a meeting to go to," Eri said. "I'm sure I can make up for a short delay," replied her father. "And…this is difficult for me too, but I think we should have a talk before I leave after all. Shall we?"

They didn't say anything else until they were seated at a small table in the cafeteria with two paper cups of coffee. "That's quite a remarkable young man you've got up there," Sawachika-san said eventually, breaking the silence first. "Aside from your mother, I don't think anyone else has talked back to me like this in recent years."

Eri looked down and smiled furtively, but she didn't say anything. After a few moments of silence her father spoke again. "I'm not going to apologize for what I tried to do, Eri," he said seriously. "My concerns are valid, I'm sure you understand that too. And to be quite honest, I have other concerns as well; all this time I've been troubled by the fact that you got engaged to a person who has so little in common with you. Even if you hate me for it, I have to say that one of the reasons I wanted you to move back to England was to help you get over a relationship which clearly does not suit you."

"I'm not going to hate you for saying this, Father," sighed Eri. "I know that to others such a…relationship would indeed seem unbefitting for me. I even thought so myself at first." She smiled a little again and looked up. "But you know…sometimes there are great things hidden in the most unexpected places. I count myself lucky for having found one such thing here…and I want to hold on to it."

"Then I take it your answer is…?"

"No," Eri said steadily. "I'm not going to leave."

"I can't say I'm surprised," her father sighed again in resignation. Then he leaned forward and asked, "Do you have that much faith in this boy…? Do you really believe he can protect you from anything…that he won't ever abandon you?"

"Yes," Eri said with the same firmness. "Hig…Kenji always keeps his promises. If he says he'll be there for me, then he'll be there for me no matter what. And as for protecting me from anything…I know he'll do his very best, just like he did now; but I don't intend to live my life in a glass case. I want to become strong enough to defend myself without relying on others…I am your daughter, after all." She gave another smile. "Kenji…he understands that," she said softly. "He has my back without smothering me…and he has faith in me as much as I have in him. That's the best part about him, I guess."

"This is something of a shock for me – my little girl has grown up while I was away," her father said, smiling at her as well. "Eri, I can see you have thought seriously about this, so I will abide by your decision; but I want you to promise me that if you ever change your mind, or feel that you have made a mistake, you won't be ashamed to admit it to me and your mother. Always remember that we're not out to judge you; our only goal is your happiness."

"Thank you, Father…I never doubted that," Eri said gratefully. "That's good; now then, I really should get going," her father said. "I'm glad we got to talk, even if it was for so little; I will try to arrange a longer stay next time."

"I'll look forward to it," Eri said. "Please give my regards to Mother when you return home." She escorted her father up to the hospital's entrance where his limo was already waiting; and after waving goodbye to him she started off for Harima's room again. So much had happened today…and yet she was feeling strangely at ease.

Harima was gazing outside his window when she returned, but he turned towards her as soon as the door opened. "Hey, you're back," he said awkwardly. Eri just nodded; an uncomfortable silence followed and then Harima said hesitantly, "Umm…I know this is kind of hard to believe, but your father was here while you were gone."

"I know, I…I ran into him when he was leaving," Eri said, a bit awkwardly as well. "We talked for a little while, that's why I was late coming back."

"Oh…don't worry about that," Harima said. "It's good you had a chance to talk…it's been so long since you last saw him, it would've been a pity if you just missed each other." He stared at her for a few seconds, wondering whether she had heard his conversation with her father or not. Well, even if she had heard it didn't really make any difference; he wouldn't have taken back a single word he had said. Then he added, "So…I guess he told you too…they caught your kidnappers yesterday, so there's no need for you to be locked up anymore."

"No, there isn't," Eri said simply. "Starting tomorrow…everything will be back to normal."

Back to normal…he liked the sound of that. Those two months and especially those last few days had been anything but normal…but both of them had endured, and now they could go back to their daily lives again. A good many things had changed and more changes were yet to come, he could feel it in the air; but just for now, it was back to normal and it felt good.

He suddenly smiled at her and sat up eagerly. "Hey, I've got an idea…how about we go for a stroll outside? To celebrate your freedom and all."

Eri gave him a surprised look. "But…won't it be too cold for you?" she asked. "I'll be fine if I have my jacket on," Harima said with confidence. "Come on, it'll do us good to get some fresh air."

They quickly put their coats on and headed outside. At first they just walked around the hospital's gardens at random, glad to be outdoors after so many days of confinement. They didn't talk, but it wasn't awkward; both of them felt nice just being together like this. When they got tired of walking they sat down on a wooden bench near the entrance, one that wasn't shaded by the trees. Although it was still winter it was sunny today and both of them wanted to bask in the sunshine, if only for a short while.

For a while they sat there in silence, taking in the sunlight. Then at some point Eri reached inside her pocket and felt something; it was the thing she had gone to buy at the cafeteria earlier. _Might as well give it now,_ she thought. _I don't think I'll find a better time._

"I almost forgot – this is for you," she said timidly, handing the small rectangular object to Harima. He took it and gave it a puzzled look. "A cereal bar?" he asked, kind of confused.

"Chocolate-flavored cereal bar," Eri said, with emphasis on 'chocolate'. "That's the problem with a hospital's cafeteria, you can't find too many sweets there. It was either that or the chocolate-flavored pudding, and I think you've had enough puddings to last you a lifetime already."

"Umm…correct me if I'm wrong but I get the feeling I'm missing something here," Harima said, still puzzled. Eri rolled her eyes; really, Hige was such a slowpoke sometimes. Giving him another what-am-I-going-to-do-with-you look she explained in three words, "Happy Valentine's day."

"Right, I'd totally forgotten about that…thanks," Harima said. He looked at the cereal bar a bit more closely and asked jokingly, "So…would you like to get the almond or the raspberry-flavored one for White Day?"

"Hmph, no manners as always," snorted Eri. "Don't you know you're supposed to give back three times what you received?"

Harima threw his head back and laughed heartily. "Okay, three bars it is." He tore the wrapping open and took a bite. "Not bad," he said. "Good thing it's not very sweet, I'm not too good with sweets."

"And yet I clearly remember you telling Tenma the exact opposite last year," Eri said incisively, and Harima looked at her as though she'd just caught him pulling a prank. "Yeah, well…back then I thought that lying like this would get me what I wanted," he said with a hint of remorse. "But I don't need to do that now, do I?"

"No," Eri said. "You didn't need it back then either, I think; and you most certainly don't need it now." "I'd better remember that," Harima muttered quietly as they looked into each other's eyes; then he finally tore his eyes away and resumed eating the cereal bar. He finished it off and put the wrapping in his pocket to throw away later, then looked at Eri again who was in turn gazing up at the sky. "Feels nice to see the sky above you after all this time, right?" he asked her.

"Yes, it makes me feel…at peace with everything and everyone – even you," she chuckled a little. "Come to think of it, we haven't had a single fight today."

"What, don't tell me you missed it?" Harima said, laughing as well. Eri shook her head with a light smile. "No…it's nice to take a break from fighting every once in a while."

"For once I agree, so…why don't we just stay like this for a bit," he said, looking down at her. Eri nodded and they both leaned back against the bench, quietly enjoying their moment of peace.

They were still sitting there when Yakumo and Sarah returned from school. As they headed for the building's entrance Sarah spotted them in the distance, sitting together on the bench. "Oh, isn't that Harima-senpai and Sawachika-senpai?" she said, kind of surprised.

Yakumo stopped walking and looked at them as well. They weren't that far off so she could see them quite clearly, but they hadn't noticed her and Sarah for the moment. They weren't doing anything in particular; just sitting there side by side, gazing at the sky. They weren't touching or talking or even looking at each other; and yet, seeing them sitting there with that content expression on their faces one could not help but feel that they belonged together. They were together, and they were happy…and upon seeing this, the first feeling that sprang up in Yakumo's heart was…joy. She didn't feel angry, she didn't feel sad or bitter or envious; she was genuinely happy for them. And so it was that she finally knew. So it was that finally, after so much thinking and worrying and wondering, she had all her answers.

"Well then, let's go join them," Sarah was saying next to her, when she noticed her friend wasn't paying attention to her. "Yakumo? Are you listening?"

Yakumo looked away from the couple on the bench and turned towards her best friend. Taking both Sarah's hands in her own, she looked at her with an air of unusual certainty. "Sarah, I'd like to tell you before anyone else," she said in a definitive, almost formal manner. "When Harima-san is released from the hospital…I'm going to confess to Hirayama-kun."


	10. Chapter 10 Confession Time

**Chapter 10 – Confession Time**

Sarah stared at her best friend blankly, not sure whether she had heard right. "You're going to confess…to Hirayama-kun?" she asked incredulously. "I don't mean to sound rude, but…you've lost me there, Yakumo…isn't Harima-senpai the one you're in love with?"

Yakumo let out a sigh. "I thought so too, but…it seems he knows me better than I even know myself." And for some reason there was no doubt who was she referring to.

She met Sarah's concerned expression with an apologetic look. "Sarah…certain things have happened that I haven't told you about," she said remorsefully. "Please forgive me for keeping them from you…it's not that I didn't trust you, I just had to think them through on my own. But now that I finally have sorted them out there's no reason to keep silent any longer, so I'd like to tell you everything."

"Yakumo, you don't have to apologize; I'm sure you had a good reason for keeping those things to yourself," Sarah said. "I'll listen to you anytime, so you don't have to push yourself; are you sure you want to talk about this right now?"

"Yes, I'm positive this is the right time," Yakumo said with conviction. "Come, let's take a walk over there for a bit." The two girls took a path leading to the hospital's back gardens, away from Harima and Eri who were sitting near the front entrance. As soon as they got a little farther off Yakumo started telling her friend about the conversation between her and Hirayama-kun on the field trip; about his revelations regarding her ability, his confession and what he had asked her to do.

Sarah remained silent for several minutes after she was done talking; all this sounded so incredible and yet it made perfect sense. "So this is why you could never read his mind…" she eventually said with amazement. "And how he knew about your ability as well…I must confess I had never thought of such a possibility. But what surprised me the most was that he was in love with you all this time and he never let it show, not even a tiny bit. Although I must admit it was very sensible of him not to make a fool of himself like all the others who went after you," she remarked. "And it was very considerate on his part to take your feelings for Harima-senpai into account as well."

"Very true," Yakumo agreed. "That's why I thought that the least I could do in return was to think very seriously about what he asked me. And I did, Sarah; during those two months since then every day I thought about everything that happened between Harima-san and me. How I met with him and he asked me to help with his manga, how we worked together on it, how I went to his house and we talked, how I realized he was in love with Nee-san…How I saw him get rejected time and again, how I finally witnessed his heartbreak and his sacrifice…And afterwards how he came to live with us and the year we spent in the same house…everything. I tried to remember how I felt every single moment we spent together, and I tried to figure out how he felt about me as well based on his actions, since even now I can't tell what he's thinking." She paused for a bit and then went on, "I have to admit that at first I was stumped; I could tell he cares about me of course, but nothing more specific. It was only a few days ago when I finally realized that I knew the answer all along; that it was right there in front of me all this time. You know it too, Sarah," she said, turning to her friend. "What is it that Harima-san always calls me?"

" 'Imouto-san'," Sarah replied automatically. "That's right, 'Imouto-san', 'little sister'," Yakumo said with a faint smile. "That's how he's always seen me ever since day one, as Nee-san's little sister. It makes sense if you think about it; he was in love with Nee-san, so naturally he thought of Nee-san's family as his own. One would think that might change when Nee-san left and he came to live with us, but it didn't…probably because I did nothing to make him see me differently. I was – I still am – content to be near him and care for him just like he took care of me and you as well. I wanted us to always live together happily like this, and I believed this was what love must be like…but I was wrong."

"I was wrong because this…this is family love, not love between man and woman," she went on. "Before, I had never wished to be together with a man so it was easy to confuse between the two; but now I can see the difference. That's why I never tried to take our relationship to the next level like you told me before…and that's also why I would gladly have given him to Nee-san if she ever returned his feelings. Sarah, if I loved him in the true sense of the word I would never have felt like this. I would never have wanted him to be with anyone else, not even the one he loved, not even my own sister. That's how Sawachika-senpai feels," she continued with a little frown. "Remember when she found out about Harima-san's feelings for Nee-san? Back then I thought it was mean of her to get mad at Nee-san for this, since they were supposed to be friends. That's why I got mad at her in turn and even struck her; but I never stopped to think that if I felt the same way about Harima-san as she did I should have gotten mad at Nee-san too. I thought it was different for me because we are sisters, because I definitely care about Nee-san more than anyone else does, but ultimately this shouldn't have made any difference; not if Harima-san was indeed my most important person."

She sighed a little and went on, "It took me long enough to realize this…but the bottom line is that all this time I've been someone who takes cares of others and never had anyone take care of _me._ We lost our parents long ago, and Nee-san…well, she always tries her best, I know, but I've always been the reliable one, the one everyone looks up to and admires and has expectations of. Harima-san was always grateful for the assistance I gave him but he never once expected things of me, instead he cares for me in turn as a matter of course. All this time he's been the father I lost early, or the big brother I never had…he has been filling that void in my life and my heart went out to him for this. So in the end, I guess I do love him; but as a brother, not as a man."

Sarah was silent again for a long time after Yakumo's speech, thinking over everything she had just heard. It was indeed true that Yakumo was always regarded as a perfect being, when in fact she had fears and weaknesses like everyone else. Their very friendship had started when she had discovered Yakumo's fear of dogs and protected her from one, so she was fully aware of this. But she had never minded that Yakumo wasn't the perfect person everyone else imagined; on the contrary, she loved her friend just as well, weaknesses and all. She could see Harima treated Yakumo the same way, and so despite his rough manners she had soon warmed up to him. But perhaps, like Yakumo said, this sort of affection wasn't enough to be called 'love'.

"…All right, so you don't see Harima-senpai like that," she finally said. "But where does confessing to Hirayama-kun fit in all this? Sure, you do get along well and he seems to care a lot about you…but is that enough? You say you don't love Harima-senpai as a man…but do you love _him_ as a man?"

"Love him? Oh, Sarah, I'm not even sure what love is," Yakumo sighed again. "I thought I loved someone and it turns out I didn't…so in the end I still have no clue what it means to love a man. But…I know I want to find out," she carried on, blushing deeply. "I want to know what it's like to have someone more important to me than anyone else, even my family and friends. I'd be lying if I said I'm sure Hirayama-kun can be such a person for me…but it's not like I don't feel anything for him. For one thing I'm grateful to him for understanding me so well without ever judging me…and also I feel at ease around him because I trust him to accept me together with all my flaws. If I was in love with someone else of course these feelings would never suffice…but if I don't love anyone, if I have nothing to lose…aren't they enough? It seems a lot of relationships start off with even less than that, and besides…" she added with a somewhat bitter smile, "…let's face it, there aren't many men out there I could feel as much for."

"So, are you going to accept him?" Sarah asked. "If he doesn't mind starting out as friends…I don't think I'm ready for anything more yet," Yakumo said, blushing again. Sarah nodded approvingly; at least her friend wasn't pushing herself to agree to anything she wasn't ready for. "Yakumo, if you have thought this through and I can see you have, I really don't have anything to say against it. In my opinion, you could do a lot worse than Hirayama-kun; he's a good person and he has always treated you well. Still, I want you to promise me that if you have second thoughts, or feel you're not ready yet, you won't hesitate to admit it. The worst you can do is to make such an important decision against your better judgement."

"I know…believe me, I have thought more about this than anything else," Yakumo said. "And if this doesn't feel right later on I'll certainly say so…otherwise it would not be fair for either me or Hirayama-kun." She suddenly blushed again and looked down. "You know…I still can't believe I'm about to do something like this…last year I would never have imagined that one day I'd work up the courage for a confession. And…I can't help but wonder whether it'll go well…"

"Oh, don't talk nonsense, Yakumo; of course it'll go well," Sarah said with a broad smile. "Hirayama-kun waited for you all these months, there's no way he would change his mind now. But this really is a huge deal…you're finally going to get your first boyfriend!" she said excitedly.

"You're happy for me then?" Yakumo asked, somewhat anxiously.

"Do you even need to ask? Well, I suppose having to share you with Hirayama-kun from now on will take a bit of getting used to, but I'll gladly make that concession for your happiness. After all, we're still going to be best friends; nothing will ever change that."

"Certainly not," Yakumo agreed. "Oh, Sarah, I'm so relieved you approve of my choice; I really wouldn't know what to do if you and Hirayama-kun didn't get along!"

"Well, like I said he's a nice person, so unless he hurts you in any way I have no problem with him," Sarah said. "But he'd better not hog you all to himself from now on! You'll still spend some time with me and the girls, right?"

"That goes without saying," Yakumo said. "Oh, by the way, don't tell anyone yet, okay? It would be bad if rumors started spreading before anything even happens…"

"Yeah, you're right…there's always a chance some idiot or other will try to get in your way," Sarah admitted. "Don't worry, I won't say anything until it's a done deal. So, shall we go up to Harima-senpai's room now? It's getting kind of late, he'll be wondering what kept us."

Yakumo nodded and the two girls went quickly up to Harima's room. He and Eri had returned from their walk in the meantime and were sitting together. Both of them noticed that Yakumo and Sarah seemed to be in unusually high spirits but they didn't think too much of it, figuring they were happy because Harima was finally returning home tomorrow.

The next day – it was a Friday – at around noon Harima got discharged; Yakumo and Sarah left school early to escort him home. Nakamura came too in order to pick up Eri, and he drove the others to Yakumo's house first before returning to the mansion with his mistress.

One would think Harima would rest and recuperate over the weekend, but sadly that was not the case. Almost immediately after he got home his editor called, frantic about the deadline; Harima hadn't worked on his upcoming chapter for many days because of his hospitalization and he had to start drawing immediately if he wanted to catch up. Therefore he and Yakumo got to work at once and the better part of the weekend was spent drawing and inking pages; but even though they managed to cover some lost ground during those two days there was still a lot of work left to be done.

Monday came and Harima went to school again after more than a week's absence. Almost all of his classmates welcomed him and asked him about his health, but fortunately they didn't pester him with too many questions. Mikoto and Akira had told everybody he was in a traffic accident, and thankfully no one had doubted them. Eri was back to school too but she wasn't asked many questions either; her excuse was a trip abroad due to a family emergency. Oddly enough nobody thought it was weird that both of them were absent at exactly the same time.

Harima didn't stay for too long in class though; while he was in the hospital the regular courses were finished, and now the third-years were preparing for their college entrance examinations. That meant they either attended supplementary classes or did self-studying. Harima didn't have to do either, since he didn't have to pass entrance exams for his college, so he decided to get some work done instead. But he couldn't concentrate in the classroom because some of the other students were reading aloud stuff to memorize it, so he gathered his things and headed for the library.

SRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSR SR

It was lunch break, and Yakumo with Sarah were sitting together at Sarah's desk, right next to the window. The class reps had opened it to get some fresh air in the classroom during break and there was a slight breeze coming in. The girls didn't mind though; the weather had improved these past few days, it was finally beginning to feel like spring. Satsuki, Miki and Haruna had gone to buy their lunches at the cafeteria today and most of the other students were outside as well, so the two of them could talk without reservations.

"So, today's the big day, huh?" Sarah said animatedly. "Have you set up the meeting yet?"

"Yes, I asked him to meet me after school when we went to get the materials for art class," Yakumo said nervously. "We'll meet at the big sakura tree – you know, the one near the path between the library and the school building. It's quite secluded there, I don't think anyone will disturb us."

"Ooh, this is so exciting; I wish I could be there too!" Sarah practically squealed with enthusiasm. "But of course it should be just the two of you at such an important moment." Then her face turned serious again and she leaned over the desk to look closely at her friend. "Yakumo…perhaps it's wrong of me to ask this now, but are you sure you have no second thoughts about this? It's rare for you to decide on something so significant so easily…usually you'd hesitate a lot more before you make up your mind."

"That's true, but this time I have no reason to hesitate," Yakumo said. Just then a tall shadow was passing under the window and as Yakumo's voice was carried outside it suddenly stopped; but neither of the two girls noticed. "I think it's because…I have nothing to hide from him anymore. Even though we only know each other for a short time and got closer only just recently, he already knows everything there is to know about me. My most hidden, most embarrassing sides…he has seen them all. I've never gotten that far with any other man…but with him it was always so easy to forget my reservations and open up to him completely. I never expected such a thing to happen to me…but now that it has I believe I should make the best of it."

"Indeed, I never expected you two to get so close either, even though you were friends right from the beginning," Sarah said. "So many things have changed in less than a year…I have to confess that when Harima-senpai came to live with us last spring I could never have imagined things would turn out like this."

"Neither could I," Yakumo said; but just then a large group of students returned to class and the two friends dropped their conversation. Then the bell rang, the window was closed and classes started again; but the tall shadow under the window remained rooted on the spot.

Hanai leaned against the wall aghast, unable to work his mind around what he had just heard. He had passed by Yakumo's classroom during break on purpose, in the hope of catching a glimpse of his crush; but what awaited him was the nastiest shock of his life.

His pure, chaste Yakumo-kun and that scoundrel Harima had actually done _that_…He didn't want to believe it, he refused to believe it; but how could he deny Yakumo-kun's very words? She said it herself that she had shown him her most embarrassing sides, that she had never gotten that far with another man…what else could that mean? And of course she was the victim here; Yakumo-kun would never do such shameful things on her own. She had taken that deceiver into her house because she was too kind-hearted to leave him on the streets, and that immoral bastard had seized the opportunity to lead her astray and steal her virtue. But he wasn't going to get away with it, not if Hanai had anything to say about it. Clenching his fists he set off briskly for the third-year's classrooms, his eyes blazing furiously behind his glasses. _You're finished, Harima._

But Harima wasn't in 3-C and nobody knew where he had gone; so instead of going to his supplementary class Hanai went to look for him. He searched all the empty classrooms in case he was taking a nap in one of them, went to the infirmary, passed by the teachers' office on the off chance some teacher or other had called him there, then he checked out the rooftop, the gym, the courtyard…but Harima was nowhere to be seen. His outdoors shoes were still in their locker though, so he definitely hadn't left school yet. Finally after having searched almost the entire school, shortly before classes ended Hanai headed for the one place he hadn't checked out yet – the library. He didn't believe a delinquent like Harima would be there, but he didn't want to leave any stone unturned.

Tired after many hours of drawing, Harima checked his watch; classes should be finished just about now. He was kind of hungry too; might as well head for home, get a bite to eat and rest for a bit before getting to work again. He got up, stretching a bit to ease the cramps in his body, picked up his things and set off for the school building to get his shoes.

He was walking along the path to the school building, which ran alongside a series of various trees planted around the school, separated by them by a tall shrubbery of decorative bushes. He was about halfway to the school building, near an ancient sakura tree, when he suddenly saw Hanai coming from the opposite direction with swift steps. "Oh, hey there, four-eyes – Whoa!" he exclaimed and jumped back two clear feet, just in time to avoid the swing Hanai took at him. "Hey man, what gives?!" he cried out indignantly.

Hanai didn't answer, just tried to punch him again. Harima spent the next few minutes dodging his punches, all the while wondering what on earth had got into four-eyes. It wasn't the first time Hanai picked a fight with him, but this was different than all the other times before; he really seemed to be after his blood now, and Harima had no idea why. They hadn't seen each other or talked even once since New Year day and he couldn't understand what he had done to make him so furious. "Four-eyes, this isn't funny!" he shouted again angrily. "Are you nuts or what?"

"Shut up!" yelled Hanai with bloodthirsty eyes, aiming yet another punch at him. "You dare ask me that after what you did?"

"Has your brain turned to mush from studying or something?" shouted Harima, his patience quickly giving out. "What the hell did I do to you?"

"You defiled Yakumo-kun, you bastard! You took advantage of an innocent girl's kindness and corrupted her body and soul! And for that you shall die!"

Harima still didn't have a clue what four-eyes was going on about, but as usually his short temper took over before he could process logically what he had heard. "All right, enough is enough," he rumbled, clenching his fists as well. "You can say I'm a defiler or whatever, I don't care, but _nobody _speaks of Imouto-san like that in front of me. That girl is like family to me and I'm not letting any nutjob spread dirty rumors about her."

"How dare you – I care more about Yakumo-kun than anyone in the world! Some nerve you've got pretending to defend her after what you did to her! So help me, this time you _will_ pay!" Hanai cried out and lunged at him again. Harima glowered at him and raised his fist in turn, but before he could strike the voice of the very cause for their dispute sounded from the other side of the shrubbery. "Hirayama-kun…thanks for agreeing to meet me here."

The sound of her voice took the two adversaries by surprise and they stopped their fight short, moving a bit closer to the shrubbery to see what was going on; most people would not be able to see over it, but the two of them were just tall enough to see what was happening on the other side. And what they saw was Yakumo standing under the big sakura tree together with Hirayama-kun. "Don't mention it, Tsukamoto-san," said the latter, calm as always. "What was it you wanted to tell me?"

Yakumo opened her mouth to speak but she closed it again and looked around worriedly, as if she was afraid someone was listening in on them. She half-turned towards the shrubbery; Hanai just stood there dumbfounded without even thinking to conceal himself when suddenly a strong hand pushed his head down, forcing him to duck out of sight in the nick of time. "Get down, you idiot!" hissed Harima and Hanai mechanically obeyed, because he was too bewildered to do anything else.

Seeing that no one was around, Yakumo turned to Hirayama-kun again; she thought she had sensed someone's thoughts coming from the shrubbery but it probably was just her imagination. "Hirayama-kun…I called you here to tell you that I did what you asked of me. I thought about everything very seriously and now I can finally give you my answer."

Hirayama-kun remained silent, waiting for her to speak her mind. Yakumo took a deep breath and went on, "Harima-san…he is a very important person to me. He was the first man I was able to approach without fear, and the one who made me understand that not all males are untrustworthy. And I know he has always cared and always will care about me…as family."

"That's how he's always seen me and how I see him as well…I just didn't realize it until now," she said. "It was thanks to you that I finally understood where we stand. Even though we are not related by blood, Harima-san and I are like siblings…this is the relationship we are destined to have."

"I'm really grateful to you for this; for helping me clear this up in my mind and for all the patience you've shown with me. And also…for seeing me as I am and accepting me nonetheless. You are the only one who sees me as a regular girl, not as a little sister like Harima-san or as an immaculate angel like everyone else. Hirayama-kun…I'm going to be honest with you. I still don't know much about this thing called 'love', so I can't tell you yet that I love you. But if you're willing to bear with me, I would like to learn more about it…with you."

Hirayama-kun looked at her and a rare, warm smile spread across his usually impassive face. "Tsukamoto-san…you have no idea how happy you made me just now," he said, his low voice shaking with emotion. "Rest assured, I'll give you all the time you need; I can wait for you all of my life, because you are well worth the wait."

Yakumo blushed again at his words. "Then…p-please take care of me from now on," she said shyly, bowing deeply in front of him. "Take care of me as well," Hirayama-kun said almost formally, bowing in turn; then for a few moments both of them stood silently, staring at each other nervously.

It was Hirayama-kun who broke the silence first. "Just so you know, my offer of before still stands," he said seriously. "I don't ever want you to doubt my sincerity, so whenever you wish to be sure of it…all you have to do is ask."

Yakumo was grateful that he was still willing to open his mind to her, but she decided not to take advantage of it. "Thank you, but…I think I'm going to pass for now," she said. "I'd rather not rely on this to make a relationship work…I feel that if I take you up on your offer it would mean I don't trust you enough." She looked up at him anxiously. "I hope you're not insulted because I turned you down."

"Not at all; if anything, I'm glad you turned me down," Hirayama-kun said with a slight smile. "If you didn't, I wouldn't be able to do this." He reached out and took a strand of Yakumo's hair in his hand, bringing it reverently to his lips. Yakumo blushed more deeply than ever at this unexpected gesture and started fidgeting uneasily; seeing her so flustered, Hirayama-kun pulled back a little. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable…I'll make sure not to get carried away in the future."

"It's…it's okay, I mean…" Yakumo started fidgeting again, looking for the right words. "I know I'm way too awkward about these things and I want to get over it, but…it's hard for me to handle so I want to take it one step at a time. It's not fair to you, I know, but…"

"Don't worry about me, we'll take this as slow as you want," Hirayama-kun said gently. "Tell you what, for starters how about we try to call each other by our first names? Do you think you can handle that…Yakumo-san?"

Yakumo looked at him both thankful and embarrassed, and said in a slightly trembling voice, "Yes…I think I can manage that much…Yuusei-kun."

"Then we'll leave it at that for now," he said with the same kindness. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I think I'll return home…Sarah will be waiting for me," Yakumo said. "I want to tell her about us…Harima-san too, of course."

"Then, Adiemus-san isn't here?" Hirayama-kun asked. "No, I told her to go on ahead…" Yakumo answered. "In that case, allow me to walk you home," he said. "I don't want you to go alone, and besides…" he hesitated a little, "…you're right, Harima-senpai is indeed the closest thing to a family you have here…so I kind of wanted to ask for his blessing as well."

Yakumo nodded in consent and the two of them set off for home, walking slowly side by side. Harima felt more than a little awkward to hear that Hirayama was going to ask _him_ for permission to date Imouto-san…but in any case he was happy for her. He cared very deeply about her and wanted her happiness more than anything; and it was gratifying for him to see her on her way to a brighter future. Hirayama was a decent guy, Harima trusted that he would take proper care of her – unless he wanted to die a very painful death anyway. Besides, now all those misunderstandings like the one with four-eyes just now would be resolved for good, he thought as he turned to his companion.

"Do you get it _now_, four-eyes, or do you still think I'm the one standing in the way of your love…?" he started asking, but the words faded on his lips when he saw the expression on Hanai's face.

His glasses were fogged up and his eyes were barely visible; for the first time since Harima knew him he seemed to be truly on the verge of tears. He didn't move or say anything…but just by looking at his face it was evident how devastated he was. Harima felt a piercing pain in his chest as his own painful memories came flooding back to him. _One person's happiness, another person's heartbreak…I of all people should know._

Still squatting down, he put a compassionate hand on Hanai's shoulder. "Hey man…I know it hurts, and I know there's nothing I can say right now that'll make you feel better…but I've been there too, so trust me on this. It gets better…just give it time, and it will get better."

Hanai didn't seem to have heard him; for several minutes he just stayed there, staring blankly ahead of him. Then slowly he got up. "I…would like to be alone right now," he muttered, addressing no one in particular, and without another word he turned around and ran away as fast as he could.

Harima thought of running after him, but Hanai had disappeared in the blink of an eye; and besides he got the feeling that no matter what he said now he'd never get through to him. Sighing deeply he turned around and headed for the school building to get his shoes and return home; he was at the school gate when he bumped into Mikoto and Eri who were just leaving as well. Eri smiled widely at the sight of him and greeted him happily, but for once he paid no attention to her; instead he went straight for Mikoto.

"Suou," he said with a serious, almost somber expression on his face, "do you know any place four-eyes likes to go to when he's feeling really down?"

"I can think of a few," Mikoto said, feeling her chest tighten all of a sudden. "Why?"

"Because that's where he's going to be," Harima said gravely. "He just saw Imouto-san confess to someone else."

All the color was drained instantly from Mikoto's face; for a few seconds she stared at him without saying anything, then she suddenly whisked around and without looking back started sprinting towards somewhere only she knew.

Harima watched her go with the same sorrowful look in his eyes, when suddenly he felt a hand touching his arm; he looked down and saw Eri staring up at him. "Why are you so sad, Hige?" she asked softly.

He stared back at her for a moment. "Four-eyes just now…for a second there, it was like seeing myself a year ago," he whispered and looked again towards where Mikoto had disappeared. Eri followed his eyes, her heart aching as well; if there was anyone in the world who understood what Hanai was going through right now, it was Harima. "Do you think…he'll be all right?" she asked in a low voice.

Harima took some time before answering, his eyes still fixed in the distance. "Yes…I think so," he said eventually. "Four-eyes…he's the toughest guy I know, and coming from me that's saying a lot. He'll get over it in time…but it's not going to be easy." He looked down again with a face tight with pain and said in a hollow voice, "It's never easy."

For several minutes afterwards they stood there in silence, lost in their thoughts, then Eri lifted her head again to look at him. "In any case, you shouldn't go home with that face," she said with concern. "You look like you just came back from a funeral…at this rate, Yakumo will think she's the one who made you unhappy."

Harima nodded his head. "You're right…the last thing I want is to spoil Imouto-san's day," he said. "I'm really happy for her, you know…although I kind of feel like I've just given my daughter away. Is it weird to feel that?"

"Well…you care a great deal about Yakumo, so I think it's only natural," Eri said, smiling faintly at him. "Although I must admit you don't exactly fit my image of a father."

"I'm nothing like _your_ father, that's for sure," muttered Harima, recalling his encounter with Eri's father at the hospital. Then he looked at her again and said, "You know what, I think I'll take a walk for a while…clear my head a bit before I head back home." He paused for a second and then asked her, "Wanna come with?"

Eri nodded and they left school together, taking a road at random. For a while they just walked around silently, without paying attention to where they were going. Eventually their feet brought them to a small deserted park near the school; after wandering around it for some time they finally sat down on a bench. Harima still didn't seem inclined to talk so Eri just let him be, discreetly watching his face in an attempt to see if he was feeling better.

Harima was grateful for her silence, it was more soothing for him than any words. It meant a lot for him to know she was there to support him, that she had always been by his side helping him fight those very demons Hanai was facing right now. _Nobody should go through this alone,_ he thought as he stole a glance at her. _I couldn't see it back then, but I was really lucky to have met with her._

And he was even luckier to have her in his life now, he knew, because no one understood him as well as she did. No one knew so well what to say and when to say it, when to leave him alone and when to force him to snap out of it and get on with his life. It was strange to think this of someone who got on his nerves so often, but her presence truly relaxed him and eased the doubts and fears away from his mind; and his sorrows seemed like nothing more than a bad dream when he was with her.

He suddenly remembered something he had drawn in his manga a while ago – a scene where the heroine was comforting the distressed hero by letting him sleep on her lap (clichés like that one were inevitable when drawing shoujo manga). It wasn't like he needed Ojou to do such a thing for him…but lately he often caught himself looking back on those few peaceful moments they had together with an odd feeling of longing. He didn't dislike their more rowdy times, but he somehow wanted to see what such a mellow situation with her would feel like…it couldn't be that bad, right? For one thing, she'd surely feel nice and soft under his head…and her face would be even more fetching bending over him, gazing at him with concerned, caring eyes…And when she thought he was asleep, maybe she'd dare to stroke his hair for a second, or even caress his face…And maybe he'd choose that very moment to turn his head to the side, just to see her blush as his lips 'accidentally' brushed against her fingers…

_Geez, what a daydreaming fool I am…as if I don't know things like that only happen in manga._ Harima pulled himself together, ashamed of his thoughts; Ojou was worrying about him all this time while he was having stupid fantasies. He turned towards her and smiled a little, letting her see he was feeling better now; Eri let out a small sigh of relief and smiled at him in turn.

"So…you didn't tell me who's the lucky guy…?" she asked him, assuming it was all right to start talking again. She brought a finger to her mouth and thought for an instant. "Hmm, let me take a wild guess…Hirayama-kun?"

Harima gave her a sidelong glance. "What the hell, everyone knew about it except me?" he asked, somewhat annoyed.

"I didn't know it per se," Eri explained, "it's just that apart from you he was the only other guy who was close to Yakumo…it made sense that if she ever decided to date someone it would be him."

"Yeah, that's true…I guess I didn't notice 'cause he was the only one who wasn't drooling over her," Harima said. "Honestly, if I hadn't seen it myself I would never have guessed in a million years he was in love with Imouto-san…I wonder how he managed to keep it all inside him like that."

"That was probably because Hirayama-kun was smart enough to realize Yakumo didn't appreciate this drooling you mentioned," Eri said. "If you ask me, it's more surprising how come no one else thought of it before him. But you know, for me the biggest shock was that Yakumo actually worked up the courage to confess…I never thought she'd be the one confessing to a guy first."

"Well, even though I said she confessed to him, actually it sounded more like she was giving him an answer," Harima told her. "So Hirayama-kun had confessed his feelings before? When?" Eri asked with interest. "Beats me, I'd never heard any of this before today," Harima said. "Imouto-san never said anything about it."

"Well, us girls usually keep things like that to ourselves…and besides I don't think Yakumo would be comfortable talking about it with a man," Eri said. "Are you angry because she kept it from you?"

"Not really…I mean, it's not like she has to tell me each and every one of her secrets…and this is kind of personal, I get that. Anyway, I'm just glad it's Hirayama, he's about the only guy I'd entrust with her."

"Then I take it you approve of him? You believe he's the right person for Yakumo?" Eri asked.

"Yeah, I guess…I mean, it's not like I know for sure if he's the right person for her…but I do know he's a decent, honest guy…and I know he's had sense enough to behave himself around Imouto-san all this time so he's not the type who'd get carried away and scare or hurt her. But the most important thing is…" he paused for a bit, "…that Imouto-san can look him in the eyes and say what's in her heart to him. She could never do that with anyone, not even me…so if she can do it with him it must mean they have something special going on, even if they don't know it yet."

Eri gave him a sudden smile; even though she heard Harima speak so fondly of Yakumo she wasn't feeling jealous at all, just happy. _Is it very bad of me to be so happy that Yakumo got a boyfriend?_ But oh well, it wasn't her doing anyway; it had happened all on its own, she hadn't even seen it coming. "Well then, you'd better get home to hear the good news," she said. "I'm sure Yakumo can't wait to tell you."

"Okay, but let's get you home first," Harima said firmly. "It's getting dark, you shouldn't return alone." Eri tried to dissuade him (although not too hard) but he wouldn't hear of it and walked with her all the way to her mansion. "Um, would you like to come in…?" she asked him hesitantly when they were outside the door.

"No, it's getting late, I should get home," he said, then without warning he reached out and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Thanks for keeping me company today."

"Anytime, Hige." Eri just hoped it was too dark for him to see how hard she was blushing right now. "Oh, and don't forget to act surprised when Yakumo tells you," she added hurriedly in an attempt to distract herself. "She'll be dreadfully embarrassed if she finds out you overheard her confession!"

"Okay, will do." Eri went inside the mansion and leaned against the closed door, listening to his footsteps dying away in the distance. For a few minutes she stayed there, pressing the hand he had held against her heart…then she snapped out of it and rushed up to her bedroom to call Akira and tell her the news. In the end she was still a high school girl, and high school girls just love gossip.

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Harima was finally back home; it was getting late, he wondered whether Hirayama would be still there waiting for his blessing like he had said. His query was answered as soon as he stepped into the living-room and saw the three youngsters seated around the table; Sarah practically beaming with happiness, Yakumo a bit more flustered than usually and Hirayama expressionless as always.

The moment they saw him all three of them stood up and advanced towards him. Remembering Ojou's advice to act surprised he said kind of awkwardly, "I'm home…hey Hirayama, what brings you here?"

"Welcome home, Harima-san," Yakumo greeted back. "Um, I…I mean we…have something to tell you."

Trying his best to put on what he hoped was a mystified expression Harima asked, "Something to tell me? What?"

Yakumo started fidgeting again and Hirayama-kun stepped forward. "Please, allow me, Yakumo-san." He walked over to Harima, bowed and said, looking at him straight in the eyes, "Harima-senpai…you are not Yakumo-san's relative but I know she is just as important to you as your own family. That's why I want you to know…that she is the most important person to me as well, and I would like to go out with her."

"Is this what you want too, Imouto-san?" Harima asked, turning to Yakumo. "…Yes," Yakumo said simply, looking directly at him too. "Then there's only one more thing I want to know," he said, staring back into her eyes. "Are you happy right now?"

Yakumo held his gaze for a second and all of a sudden her face broke into a smile – she didn't force it, it just came all by itself. "Yes," she said again, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. "Yes, I am."

"That's all I need to know," Harima said, placing both hands on her shoulders. "Go ahead and be happy, Imouto-san, because you deserve all the happiness in the world." He half-turned to Hirayama-kun and grabbed him by the arm, bringing him closer. "You're one lucky dog, Hirayama," he said. "You may well have gotten yourself the best girl in Japan. You'd better treasure her now, 'cause if I ever hear you made her cry you're going to answer to me, you got that?"

"I was sure you'd say that, senpai," Hirayama-kun said with a light smile. "But allow me to tell you that if I ever did something so despicable, I'd be more afraid of Tsukamoto nee-sama than you."

Harima couldn't help laughing at that. "Well said," he told him. "But gee, you two sure pulled the wool over my eyes," he added, trying to keep up the 'surprised' act. He wasn't all that convincing, but the others were too happy to notice. "When did you decide to start dating?"

"It was only today, Harima-san," Yakumo said bashfully. "Besides you and Sarah nobody knows about it yet."

"You plan to keep it a secret then?" Harima asked, looking at both of them. Yakumo and Hirayama-kun exchanged a look, then Yakumo said, "No…there's no reason for that. I, for one, have no need to hide…it'll be a bit awkward at first but I'm sure everyone will get used to it soon."

"I think you're right…besides, even if you tried to keep it a secret you'd probably get found out sooner or later," Sarah said, and Harima nodded as well. "I just hope the guys in school won't give you hell, Hirayama," he said. "If you have any trouble be sure to tell me, okay?"

"Thank you, senpai…I don't think it'll be that bad, but I appreciate the offer anyway." While still talking animatedly about all this, Yakumo and Sarah prepared dinner with the two boys helping them. Then they sat down to eat; Hirayama-kun stayed over for dinner and a long while afterwards and left just in time to catch the last train.

The next few weeks passed rather quickly for Yakumo who was trying her best to adapt to this new situation. The news about her and Hirayama-kun spread all over the school with remarkable speed, causing a variety of reactions. Satsuki, Miki and Haruna were positively jubilant: "Harima-senpai is a good guy, but we always felt Hirayama-kun suits you better, Yakumo-san!" was what they said, with Miki adding, "And besides, now I'll catch Hanai-senpai for sure!" The other girls in school for the most part were also very pleased to hear it, mainly because one of the most popular girls in school was now off the market. The guys on the other hand handled the news with many diverse displays of grief, ranging from silent suffering to crying buckets to trying to pick a fight with Hirayama-kun and a whole lot of other ridiculous scenes; fortunately the memory of the fearsome abilities he had displayed during the sports festival and the general impression of possessing mysterious powers he gave off kept things from getting out of hand. Hanai was the only one who didn't say anything; the next day he just came back to school like nothing had happened and didn't allude to Yakumo and her new boyfriend even once. Akira and Eri were wondering whether Mikoto had found him that day and somehow helped him to cope with his heartbreak, but their friend didn't say anything about it to them either; whatever transpired between them that day she seemed determined to keep to herself. Anyway, as the days passed by the sensation caused by the news faded away little by little; everyone gradually got used to the fact that Tsukamoto Yakumo had a boyfriend.

Much to her relief Yakumo soon discovered that having a boyfriend wasn't nearly as stressful as she thought it would be. True to his word, Hirayama-kun was as respectful to her as always, giving her as much space as she needed and never doing anything to make her uncomfortable. They mostly met at school like before; they didn't have much time to meet outside due to their jobs (Yakumo didn't know until then, but apparently Hirayama-kun also worked part-time at a bookstore because his foster family couldn't send him much money due to Karasuma-kun's medical expenses). They usually had lunch together, either on their own or together with Sarah and Yakumo's friends, and after school he'd walk her home or to her part-time job. They went on their first date a couple of weeks later; it was a rather simple affair, a picnic in the park. Yakumo made lunch for both of them, and Hirayama-kun brought his guitar along and played for her afterwards; she still loved his music as much as ever. It was a very soothing, blissful time for her; she relaxed so much that towards the afternoon she even wound up falling asleep next to him. When she came to she was really embarrassed, but also happy to know she felt so safe around him.

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It was about a month after they had started dating, and the school year was nearing its end. It was noon and Yakumo was on the school rooftop, having lunch together with Sarah and Hirayama-kun. For the past few days she had been even more silent than usually, as if brooding over something, although not exactly in a bad mood. Shortly after they were done with their lunch she turned towards Hirayama-kun and asked, "Yuusei-kun…I've been thinking about this for some time now…originally you were supposed to stay in this school for only a year, right?"

"That's true…I didn't want to burden Ooji-san's parents so I intended to return to America at the end of the school year. But of course now things are different…I want to stay here with you, so I'll find a way to support myself from now on…maybe I'll get a second part-time job or something. Don't worry, I'll manage just fine."

"I know, but…actually I've been thinking about going to America myself," Yakumo said, making the other two look at her in astonishment. "That's…quite the announcement you've made there, Yakumo-san," Hirayama-kun said, considerably surprised. "Really, you don't have to decide something so important rashly because of me."

"It's not just because of you…and I didn't decide this rashly," Yakumo said quietly. "Actually I've been thinking about it for a while now…for one thing, I really want to get back together with Nee-san again. All this time she's been struggling with her studies and looking after Karasuma-san all on her own; I know she doesn't want me to worry, but I _do _worry; not a day goes by when I'm not wondering how she's doing. I know she's improved a lot since she left here, but I think she still could use my help. But more than anything…I miss her a lot and want to be near her again…so I figured that if you were going to return to America anyway it would be a good chance for me to move there too."

"Well…I understand how you feel, that's for sure…I mean, I've missed Ooji-san a great deal too, and would like nothing better than to be with him again. And I'm sure Tsukamoto nee-sama would be happy to have us around again as well…but what about school here? You do realize you'll have to transfer schools and continue your studies over there; are you prepared for that? And you have your friends here too, while over there you won't know anyone…"

"Well, Nee-san was able to transfer schools and carry on with her studies over there, and she left on much shorter notice," Yakumo said. "I'm sure that if I talk to Osakabe-sensei I'll be able to arrange a transfer too, and my grades are good enough so I believe I'll manage to attend classes just fine. As for my friends…I'm going to miss everyone a lot for sure, but it's not like I'm going to be all alone over there…after all I'll have Nee-san and you as well. The only thing that makes me really sad is the thought of leaving Sarah behind," she said, looking at her friend regretfully.

"Oh, don't worry about that; you're not going to leave me behind," Sarah said decisively. "If you're going to America I'm going with you; after all I am a native English speaker, I can attend school just as easily over there. I'm positive the Mother Superior will approve if I explain it to her properly. So you see, you're not going to get rid of me so easily," she said, beaming at both of them.

"Sarah…going to such lengths for me…really, I don't know what to say," Yakumo said, genuinely moved. "Say nothing, just that you're happy we'll go to college together like we planned," Sarah said. "I only hope Hirayama-kun isn't mad at me for getting in the way of your alone time."

Hirayama-kun smiled at the two girls in turn. "I know better than to try and get between you two, Adiemus-san," he said gently, then he turned to Yakumo again with a serious look. "But still, this is quite a big decision, Yakumo-san," he said gravely. "Are you sure you've thought this through…are you convinced this is the best for you?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Yakumo said serenely, looking straight at him. "For a long time I've been going around in circles, hesitating to act and running away from my fears. But I don't want to be like this anymore; I want to make a fresh start, begin a new life. And with you two and Nee-san by my side I know I have nothing to be afraid of. So yes, this is something I really want to do."

"If you say that much, I have no choice but to trust your word," he said with the same seriousness. "And of course you can always count on my support; I'll do my very best to help you get accustomed to living over there." The three of them looked at each other silently for a few moments, the weight of the decision they had just made still hanging over them. Then they started talking again, working out the details about transferring schools, moving houses, living expenses and so on. Shortly before lunch hour was over, Hirayama-kun suddenly said,

"Yakumo-san…there is one other person who needs to know about your decision…you understand who I'm talking about, right?"

Yakumo nodded. "Harima-san," she said, furrowing her brow. "You are right, of course…my moving will affect him too since he's living with us and I'm his assistant at work; I should tell him as soon as possible so he can arrange his affairs accordingly." She paused for a second, then added, "I'm going to tell him tonight when he gets home. Yuusei-kun, is it all right for you if you join us for dinner tonight? Since this concerns you too I'd like you to be there when we tell him."

"Of course," Hirayama-kun said kindly. For a few moments he looked into her eyes worriedly and then asked softly, "You will miss him very much, won't you?"

Yakumo's face clouded, but she looked back at him steadily. "Indeed I will…but this is part of the fresh start too," she said quietly. Hirayama-kun kept looking at her for a few seconds, then nodded slightly in understanding. Just then the bell sounded and the three of them went back to the classroom; but rather than the teacher's words they were thinking of the evening ahead of them.

When classes ended they walked home together; Harima wasn't back yet, he had gone over to the publishing company after school today, so the three youngsters waited for him while making dinner. When he returned, he realized instantly from the looks on their faces that they had something important to tell him. They all sat down in the living-room and after a short hesitation Yakumo told him about her intention to move to America at the end of the school year.

After hearing what she had to say Harima was silent for quite some time. "Well…I can't say I won't miss all of you…especially you, Imouto-san," he said slowly, and even though he seemed calm on the outside Yakumo and the others could tell he was really moved. "But if you think you'll be happier over there, then do what your heart tells you to. And I want you to know that no matter how far apart we are, I will always pray for your happiness; and if you ever need me for anything I will always be there for you, even if I have to go to the ends of the world and back."

"Thank you, Harima-san," Yakumo said, equally moved. "No words can express how grateful I am for your kindness; so I will only say that, to me, you will always be a part of my family. And I am truly sorry for upsetting your work and your life like that…I'll do anything in my power to make up for it."

"Don't worry, it'll all work out," Harima reassured her. "I'll talk to the editor about getting a new assistant; they won't be as good as you, of course, but I'll manage somehow. And I'd better start searching for a new place too; I assume you'll move during spring break, so if I start looking now I should've found something by then."

Yakumo stared at him thoughtfully for a few moments and then asked him, "Harima-san…other than us leaving, is there any other reason for you to want to move out? Like, for instance, is this house too old for you or too far from your college?"

"No, not really," Harima said, a bit puzzled at her question. "I mean, sure, it's kind of old but still way better than some dinky apartment in the city. And since I have my bike the distance isn't much of a problem either. But why are you asking me all this?"

"Because…I'd like to ask you a favor," Yakumo said. "If it's not inconveniencing you in any way, I'd like you to keep living here even after we've gone. Harima-san…this house was the only thing our parents left us, and both Nee-san and I are very attached to it. I would take it with me if I could, but of course that's not possible; so I would much rather have someone I care about and trust living in it than close it down or sell it to some stranger. If it's you, I know you'll take proper care of it; all I ask is that whenever we visit you'll let us stay here."

"You don't need to ask that; as if I would ever chase you out of your own house!" Harima said a bit angrily. He fell silent again for a few minutes, mulling over her words. "All right, I'll stay; but I'm going to pay you rent," he said firmly. Yakumo made as if to protest, but he raised his hand to stop her. "No, I'm not taking no for an answer. You're going to need money for your studies, and besides I won't have anyone saying I'm freeloading here. If you want me to stay you'll have to agree on this."

Then they started talking about the amount of the rent; Harima wanted to pay her a lot more than Yakumo was willing to accept so they debated over it for a long while, with Sarah and Hirayama-kun acting as arbiters. In the end they managed to agree on a reasonable price and everything was settled. Afterwards they talked over dinner about other issues regarding their transfer; Harima and the girls asked Hirayama-kun lots of questions about life in America, since he was the only one who had lived there before and he answered them as best he could. All of them understood this was going to be a major change in their lives, but they were confident that as long as their bonds held they would be able to handle anything.

After Hirayama-kun left for home the others decided to call it a night as well. "We'd better get some rest now, Yakumo," Sarah said as they went to bed. "Just think how much we'll have to get done until everything's ready for our moving!"

"Yes, there are a lot of things we'll have to get settled," agreed Yakumo. "But first of all I must write to Nee-san and tell her about all this. I just hope it won't be too much for her…she doesn't even know about me and Yuusei-kun yet."

"You haven't told her? Why?" Sarah asked in astonishment. "In her last letter, Nee-san said she had school exams coming up and I didn't want to distract her," Yakumo explained. "But they should be over by now…and besides we don't have time to waste so I shouldn't put it off any longer. Now that Nee-san is an adult she is my legal guardian and I'll need her help with the paperwork; we'll also have to consult with her about where we're going to live."

"True, I hadn't thought about that," Sarah said thoughtfully. "I really wonder what Tsukamoto-senpai will say about all this…do you think she'll approve of you and Hirayama-kun? She always believed you would end up with Harima-senpai; this is going to be quite a surprise for her."

"I think so too, but…I believe Nee-san will be fine with it as long as I'm happy," Yakumo said. "Still, I can't help but wonder about her answer as well…even after all this time Nee-san manages to surprise me. I'll write to her first thing tomorrow…and soon enough we'll know."


	11. Chapter 11 Graduation Day

**Chapter 11 note: **For this chapter I took some parts of the original manga ending and the last chapter of School Rumble Z and meshed them together to create my own version of what happened on graduation day. Also a little heads up: it might appear that way but this is not the last chapter, although as you can see we're getting there.

**Chapter 11 – Graduation Day**

"Sarah! Sarah, wake up! We've got air mail from Nee-san!"

Yakumo's excited voice and the sound of running footsteps abruptly woke Sarah up from her sleep. It was Saturday, the only day of the week she got to sleep in (on Sunday she had to go to Mass). That was why Yakumo usually let her sleep in on that day, whereas she got up early to get started on the household chores. But today was special; the postman had passed by a short while ago, bringing a letter with an American postmark. Too impatient to wait for her friend to wake up, Yakumo had rushed into their room to rouse her so that they could read Tenma's letter together.

As soon as she realized what was going on, Sarah jumped out of bed immediately and hurried to wash up and get dressed, then quickly went to join her friend in the living-room. Yakumo was waiting for her impatiently, ready to open her sister's letter lying on the table in front of her.

"What about Harima-senpai, he isn't here?" Sarah asked, seeing that Harima was nowhere in sight. "He left early to go to the publishing company today and will return in the afternoon," Yakumo said, looking from the letter to her friend apprehensively. "So…shall we open it?" Sarah nodded eagerly and the two girls pulled the letter out of the envelope and started reading.

_My dearest Yakumo,_

_I got your letter and I must say your news really took me by surprise. More than anything I'm happy for you getting together with Hirayama-kun; I didn't see it coming at all, but if you two like each other that's enough for me. I know he is a good person and I'm sure he will cherish you as you deserve; but be sure to tell him that if he ever hurts my little sister I'll definitely punish him!_

_I was even more surprised to hear that all three of you decided to come to America. This is a big step, especially for you, Yakumo, since you have never left Japan before. But then again, I had never left Japan before either and was completely clueless when I came here, and yet I managed to adapt well enough; so I'm sure you can get used to living here as well. Needless to say, you and Sarah-chan will stay with me; my place is a bit small, but I believe we'll manage until I find a bigger apartment. It'll be so much fun, just like old times! Really, I couldn't be happier to have you two here with me again, and Hirayama-kun too, of course; and I'm sure Karasuma-kun's very happy about it too. _

_Speaking of Karasuma-kun, heh heh…I've got some amazing news for you too, Yakumo! I didn't write you about it earlier because it was only confirmed a few days ago. You won't believe this: a short while ago, Karasuma-kun started getting a bit of his memory and awareness back!_

"Eeeeh, for real?!" squealed the two girls, looking at each other excitedly; then they eagerly bent over the letter again.

_Incredible, isn't it? When I first noticed I thought I was imagining things; but then the doctors confirmed it too and I can't tell you how happy that made me; I keep laughing and crying at the same time. Of course, we're not out of the woods yet; it'll be several years before he makes a full recovery. But he will definitely recover, and that's what's important!_

_You know, the doctor in charge of him told me that it will speed up his recovery if we jog his memory as much as we can; get him in contact with people and settings which meant a lot to him. Personally, I can think of no better place than our school for this; I believe the memories Karasuma-kun made with everyone meant more to him than anything else. So, here's what I thought: me and Karasuma-kun could come to Japan for a few days to attend the graduation ceremony at school. That way Karasuma-kun can meet again with all our classmates, since they're all going to be there; and also while I'm there I'll be able to help you with the arrangements for your moving. And I'll get to see my little sister's graduation ceremony too; last year I missed it because I left so suddenly, and it would be such a pity if I missed it this year too!_

_I talked it over with Karasuma-kun's family yesterday and they had no objections. Unfortunately they can't take time off work to accompany us, but it's okay; I've learnt to take care of Karasuma-kun's needs on my own by now. His body is still weak and he has to be moved around in a wheelchair mostly; so I thought it would be best if we stayed in a hotel in town, since our house doesn't have the necessary facilities. I'll write you again as soon as I've arranged everything to tell you when to expect us; and hopefully we'll meet soon!_

_With all my love,_

_Your sister, Tenma_

It goes without saying that both girls were exhilarated by this news. "Isn't this just great, Yakumo?" Sarah said enthusiastically, beaming at her friend. "Your sister's efforts were not in vain; she'll be happy with the one she loves like she wanted!"

"Yes…Nee-san's dream is finally coming true," Yakumo said in a shaky voice, shedding tears of happiness. Then abruptly she lifted her head and said, "Yuusei-kun – I must let him know about this! He probably hasn't heard about Karasuma-san's recovery yet, otherwise he would definitely have told me. I'll give him a call right now; I'm sure he's going to be thrilled!"

Indeed she called Hirayama-kun then and there, and just like she expected he was beside himself with joy when he heard the news. Hearing how happy her boyfriend was only increased Yakumo's rejoicing; and for the rest of the day both she and Sarah were on cloud nine, chatting non-stop about Tenma's love of many years and her future happiness. When Harima came home in the afternoon, he was greeted by two very joyful girls who lost no time in relaying the good news to him. Of course, he was also very pleased to hear about Karasuma's improvement; all this time he'd been hoping too that one day he'd prevail over his disease. But when he heard that Tenma was coming home for graduation day…no, that he wasn't happy to hear. In fact the most accurate description of his feelings regarding this particular bit of news would be 'scared to death'.

Tenma was coming back…after almost a year, he would meet with her again. What would this meeting do to him? he wondered. When he came face to face with her again…what was going to happen to him?

For the past year he had tried his hardest to leave the past behind and move on. Day after day he had struggled to give up on what he knew could never be, and to make a new life for himself; hopefully one where he would not make the mistakes he had made in the past. And lately he had started to believe he was getting there; he had stopped spending every waking hour grieving for his losses and he felt his life had meaning even without his lost love. He had even begun to hope there was someone who could make the pain go away completely, who could heal the gaping wound in his heart…But what if all this progress was undone when he saw his old love again? What if he fell for her all over again and got plunged headfirst into the very same hell he'd been striving to escape all this time?

He understood very well that the fact of Tenma's return by itself didn't mean he had any reason to hope for a second chance with her. After all, she was coming back together with Karasuma; this alone ought to drive it home that she'd never leave his side or look at anyone else. She had stuck with him even when there was no way of knowing whether he would recover; now that his cure was no longer a dream but a tangible possibility she certainly wasn't going to give up on him. And Karasuma would never let go of her either; Harima was well aware how much he loved her, and anyway who would be stupid enough to throw away such a wonderful girl? Once his disease was no longer in the way he'd definitely tell her how he felt about her and make her happy, and in their happiness there would be no room for outsiders. He knew all this perfectly well and his logic told him that allowing himself to get his hopes up again could only lead to another miserable failure that would set him back for God knew how long. But when had he been able to think logically when it came to Tenma? Even before she left, didn't he know for a very long time that her heart belonged to someone else? And yet he hadn't been able to give up on her until the very end; true, he had been led astray by mixed signals on occasion, but as time passed it had become all too evident to him that to her he could never be anything more than a friend. But despite knowing that, despite realizing that this love wasn't meant to be he just couldn't tear himself away; he couldn't quit even when he knew he was grasping at straws and never had any real chance with her in the first place. Even when with each passing day he saw all the more clearly that the only thing awaiting him down that road was heartbreak he could not turn back; ironically he had only let go when he had seen the very pain he'd been dreading all along on Tenma's face, right after Karasuma rejected her. No matter what he couldn't let her go through this torment, even if it meant he was condemning himself to it; and somehow he had found the courage to send her away from him and to the one she loved. He had done the right thing, he did not doubt that; after all, if Tenma was happy now it was all because of this. But he could not deny that nothing else would ever have made him give up; he would endure any amount of pain rather than let go of that girl. And someone he had harbored such strong feelings for…could he really get over her?

These past few months it seemed like he could…at least that's what he wanted to believe. He still remembered her fondly but the memories weren't as painful; and what's more, he had finally been able to look at their relationship more objectively. Now that he knew how Tenma really felt about him, a lot of things she had said and done held an entirely different meaning than the one his wishful thinking had led him to believe. Many of her words and actions he had interpreted as indications of love, now he could see they were no more than gestures of kindness or even friendship, but not love. Well, on some level he probably knew that back then as well, he just refused to believe it and insisted on deluding himself. Even when at times he came close to giving up, as soon as he saw her again he couldn't bring himself to do so. It was quite possible that the only reason he had been able to overcome his heartbreak to this extent was that Tenma was no longer around; if she hadn't left for America, if he still had to see her every day he probably wouldn't have managed to give up on her, even if he was rejected a thousand times over. And if that was so, maybe even this year they had spent away from each other might not be enough; how was he to know that his love for her would not be rekindled again as soon as he saw her? Granted, she was only coming back for a few days and she'd be constantly with Karasuma, no doubt; hopefully by seeing them together he'd finally get it into his head that he never had and never would have even a snowball's chance in hell with her. His mind already knew that for a long time now; but unfortunately his heart had this nasty habit of never listening to it. And if he did fall in love all over again…

…He didn't even want to think what a nightmare that would be. He had spent the better part of his high school years on Tenma: two years chasing after her and one more trying to forget about her. He did not regret having fallen in love with her; this love had made him a better person, it had given him friends and even a goal in life and he would always be thankful for that. But it just wouldn't do to waste away on a lost cause; he had refused to give up as long as there was even a shred of hope, but now he didn't have even that to hold on to. Falling for her again would only do him harm from now on, he was fully aware of that; he might not even be able to bounce back this time around. But was this even something he could control? In spite of knowing all this he might still fall in love again; it wasn't like he had meant for it to happen the first time either. Back then he had been swept away by her face and eyes, without stopping even for a second to think about what was happening to him. Could he really be certain that when he saw that face again he would not be ensnared once more?

No matter how he looked at it, he could not honestly give himself such an assurance. For the following days he kept on thinking about it, but it was no good; at times he thought that now he wasn't the same as back then, he knew exactly what Tenma's feelings were and who she loved, and knowing that he wouldn't let himself make such a stupid mistake as going after someone who would never love him back. But at other times he recalled how many times he had made that very mistake in the past with her, and he couldn't shake off the fear that he'd wind up going through last year's torture all over again. To make matters worse, he couldn't talk about these fears with anyone, not even Ojou. He didn't think she'd look down on him for this, but still…it didn't feel right to talk about fearing he might fall for Tenma again with her. He dreaded that she might ask him what was troubling him so much any day now and he had no idea what to say to her – because of everything he had on his mind his mood was really dark these days and she must have noticed it – but to his relief no questions came from her.

It wasn't because Eri hadn't noticed his disposition though; in fact she had realized right from the start that something about him was off, and it hadn't taken her too long to figure out just what it was. She, too, as well as Mikoto and Akira had also got an enthusiastic letter from Tenma about the same time as Yakumo, informing them of Karasuma-kun's improvement and Tenma's impending trip to Japan. It wasn't exactly surprising that Hige would be unsettled by this news, considering how much Tenma meant to him. But truthfully she had no idea what were his thoughts on the matter. Was he upset because he'd see again someone who had caused him so much pain, just when he had managed to get over it? Was he afraid he might be asked inconvenient questions about his feelings? Or…could it be he had never truly forgotten about her and was waiting for another chance to confess his love? She didn't want to believe that, but knowing how much he had loved Tenma she couldn't rule out that possibility either. She wanted to know what he was thinking but she was afraid to ask…what if it turned out he still loved Tenma after all? If she heard him say such a thing she didn't think she'd be able to take it, not after having gotten so close to him. After everything they had been through together this past year she had started to hope her feelings for him weren't in vain, that she had come to mean something to him too…but could she dare to hope she meant to him more than Tenma? Truly, she didn't have the confidence she had reached that point with him. Of course, it wasn't like Tenma would deliberately get between the two of them; she loved Karasuma-kun after all, and now that his health was finally taking a turn for the better she would be more devoted to him than ever. But even without intending it, her arrival just might ruin things for her and Hige for good…if only she didn't come to Japan right now, she thought at times, only to berate herself for being a bad friend right afterwards. Shouldn't she just be happy that everything had turned out so well for Tenma and that she would get to see her again after all this time? And indeed she was happy about this; but she just couldn't help those selfish thoughts popping into her head every now and then. As the day of graduation drew nearer, both she and Harima thought about all this more and more; and both of them caught themselves secretly wishing that time would stand still and this day would never come.

But time waits for no one; inevitably the days passed and their last day as high school students finally arrived. Tenma had notified Yakumo that she and Karasuma-kun would arrive to Japan the afternoon before and check into their hotel, and in the morning they would come directly to school from there to meet with everyone. Yakumo was also very agitated about this day, for reasons of her own; on top of meeting with her sister again after so long, this was going to be her last day as a student of this school. She would have to say goodbye to her classmates, her senpais, and her most important male friend; although it was a decision she had made herself, parting was still hard for her. And if that wasn't enough she had been appointed to address the graduating third-years with a speech, as representative of the second-years. Speaking in public was difficult for her as it were, but now that she was so emotionally charged she was afraid she might break into tears right in front of the whole student body. She only hoped her encounter with her sister would make her so happy she'd forget about everything else.

Early in the morning of graduation day Hirayama-kun arrived at Yakumo's house to walk to school with her; he, too, was both nervous and impatient to see his childhood friend again. However, for all his agitation he couldn't help but notice the absence of one member of the household. "Where's Harima-senpai? Isn't he coming to school with us?" he asked, puzzled. Yakumo and Sarah exchanged a worried look.

"He left early, he said…he had something urgent to do before coming to school and he'll meet us there," Yakumo said with a troubled expression. The three of them looked at each other with concern; none of them believed that Harima really had something urgent going on this particular morning, but even so they had no idea what to do about this. They, too, had noticed his bad mood since Tenma's letter had arrived, especially Yakumo; but he didn't look like he wanted to talk about it and besides she had no clue how to make him feel better, so she had refrained from saying anything. And now what could they do when they didn't even have any idea where he might be? After a brief silence Hirayama-kun finally said, "Well…let's just go to school for now; hopefully Harima-senpai will be done with whatever he has to do soon and meet us there." The two girls nodded and the three of them set off for school, both apprehensive and excited.

No sooner had they passed the school gates than they saw Tenma running excitedly towards them. "Yakumo!" she cried happily, diving headlong into her sister's arms. Unable to hold back her tears Yakumo returned her embrace, holding on to her sister tightly. "Nee-san…Nee-san, it really is you…" she said between her sobs.

"Ha-ha, of course it's me; who else could it be?" Tenma said cheerfully; but her eyes were teary as well. "Oh dear, it's been so long…let me take a look at you," she went on, looking at her younger sister affectionately. "Good, you look well…I was worried if you were doing all right all this time, you know?"

"Nee-san, I should be saying that," protested Yakumo, looking over her sister as well. "How have you been? Have you been eating properly? I know you always told me not to worry in your letters, but…"

"Oh, it's just like you to fret over me all the time, Yakumo," Tenma said with the same cheerfulness. "I'm not that hopeless, you know; I've even learnt to cook a couple of other things besides curry this year. By the time Karasuma-kun is fully recovered, I hope I'll be a fitting bride for him…heh heh, just kidding!" she said, giggling and fidgeting shyly.

Sarah and Hirayama-kun had stayed a little behind, not wishing to interrupt their reunion; but now that the greetings were over they approached as well. "Good to see you again, Tsukamoto-senpai!" Sarah said joyfully.

"You too, Sarah-chan; and thanks for taking care of my little sister all this time!" Tenma greeted back kindly; then Hirayama-kun stepped forward in turn. "Tsukamoto nee-sama…so nice to see you again," he said with a deep bow, genuinely moved.

"Nice to see you too, Hirayama-kun! But you're a sly one, aren't you…snatching my little sister away while I wasn't looking!" Tenma said laughing, wagging a finger at him. Yakumo was a bit surprised to see him blush; she didn't remember ever seeing him blushing until now. "You'd better be good to her now, you hear me?" Tenma went on, putting her hands at her waist in a fighting pose. "If you ever hurt my baby sister I won't forgive you, even if you are Karasuma-kun's friend!"

"Speaking of Ooji-san…" Hirayama-kun started saying, looking around questioningly, and Tenma nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, he's right here!" she said, pointing to a tree a little further off; in its shade there was a wheelchair with someone sitting on it. "Come on, I'm sure you can't wait to greet him…besides, I shouldn't leave him on his own for long." The four of them walked briskly towards the tree where Karasuma-kun was sitting on his wheelchair, expressionless as he had ever been. "You go on first, Hirayama-kun," Tenma said nervously. "Let's see if he remembers you."

The three girls stayed a little behind while Hirayama-kun advanced towards the wheelchair apprehensively. "Ooji-san…" he said in a slightly trembling voice, looking down at his childhood friend. "Do you know who I am?"

For a few seemingly endless moments Karasuma-kun just stared back at him silently; then he slowly opened his mouth and said, "…Sei-chan?"

"…Yes," Hirayama-kun said, his voice choked with emotion. "I'm so happy to see you again, Ooji-san."

"…You're so tall now," Karasuma-kun said again after a few more moments of silence. "You should start thinking which middle school you'll go to…"

"Actually I just finished my second year in high school…but it's okay, Ooji-san," Hirayama-kun said in the same choked voice. "I'm sure you'll remember everything in no time."

Karasuma-kun didn't say anything else, he just kept staring at him quietly; and the three girls went over to join them. Hirayama-kun was all but crying with happiness; Yakumo had never seen him so close to tears before. "Are you all right, Yuusei-kun?" she asked with concern, offering him a handkerchief.

"He remembers me…I can't believe it, he remembers me…" he mumbled, taking the handkerchief from her and wiping his eyes. Then he turned towards Tenma and squeezed her hands gratefully. "Tsukamoto nee-sama…how can I ever thank you?"

"Don't be silly, Hirayama-kun, I didn't do anything!" Tenma said cheerily. "You can say that all you want, but I know…if it wasn't for you he would never have made it this far," he said seriously, looking down at her. "Aw, come on…you're starting to make me feel embarrassed here!" insisted Tenma. "Karasuma-kun recovered by his own strength; I'm just glad I was around to give him a hand. But it's a very good sign that he recognized you so quickly…it seems it really was a good idea to bring him back to familiar surroundings again!" she said, pleased.

"Tenma!" The four of them turned around and saw Mikoto, Eri and Akira walking quickly towards them. Tenma let out an excited squeal and rushed to meet her friends.

"Mikoto-chan, Eri-chan, Akira-chan!" she shouted, throwing herself into their arms. Her friends hugged her back as well, happy to see her again after so long. "Wow, you're exactly the same as last year, Tenma," Mikoto said, smiling broadly at her. "America hasn't changed you at all!"

"Oh, don't say that; I'll have you know I can speak decent English now!" Tenma said proudly. "Am I amazing or what, huh, Eri-chan?" she asked, turning to Eri.

"Well if you could learn English on you own why did you pester me to tutor you all through second year?" Eri said, pretending to grumble. All four of them laughed; then their attention was drawn to the silent figure in the wheelchair.

"So, Karasuma-kun really is better now?" Mikoto asked discreetly, and Tenma nodded eagerly. "Yes, he really is! Well, we've still got a long way to go but he's started to recognize people again. He remembered Hirayama-kun just now, and he recognizes his parents and me too; maybe not every single time but he does! I'm sure that by seeing everyone again even more things will start coming back to him. Go on, you go greet him too; I wonder if he'll recognize any of you!"

"I see you've really put an effort into this," remarked Mikoto as they headed for the tree. "You even had him wear his high school uniform!"

Tenma laughed again. "No, Mikoto-chan; these are Karasuma-kun's casual clothes, can't you tell?" _Who on earth could tell? No matter how you look at it this outfit is identical to our school uniform!_ thought the three friends. Genius or not, Karasuma-kun had some really weird quirks about him; but Tenma had an uncanny way of not just accepting but admiring these eccentricities along with everything else about him. It was this unconditional love she was capable of giving that her friends considered one of her best qualities.

Then the three girls walked up to Karasuma-kun in his wheelchair and greeted him, with somewhat conflicting results. He recognized Akira but he mistook Mikoto for Ichijou and Eri for Mihara Kozue; truthfully, none of them was sure whether this was a sign of progress or not. Tenma was as optimistic as ever though, insisting this was a good sign; so they decided to just take her at her word. For a while afterwards they remained there, catching up with their friend; Yakumo, Sarah and Hirayama-kun also stayed with them. As time passed most of their classmates walked through the gates, headed for the graduation ceremony, and all of them came to greet them. Karasuma-kun identified correctly several among them, but there didn't seem to be a pattern as to whom he recognized; and since his expression didn't change at all the girls weren't sure whether he had indeed recognized his former classmates or just guessed correctly. Tenma seemed to think he was making real progress though, and if she was pleased they had no complaints either.

There was still some time left before the graduation ceremony when they realized that a certain someone hadn't shown up yet. "Say, where's Harima?" Mikoto asked the other two as quietly as she could. "He should be here by now, shouldn't he?"

"There is still time until the ceremony…but it is indeed strange," Akira agreed. While Tenma was busy fussing over Karasuma-kun, she motioned Yakumo to come over. "Yakumo, didn't Harima leave together with you guys for school?" she asked.

Yakumo told them about how Harima had left early on his own because he had something to do, and Eri frowned immediately. What a load of bull…no way he really had any other errands on such an important day. But then what did he intend to do? For a few seconds her chest tightened with fear as she thought he might have gone away again, but she quickly shook the thought away. He hadn't taken his motorcycle or any luggage with him, if he had Yakumo would have noticed; and not even he was crazy enough to skip town with nothing but the clothes on his back…at least that's what she hoped. No, he was probably hiding somewhere, trying to avoid this meeting. It wasn't like she couldn't understand that; she, too, had her own reasons to dread a meeting between him and Tenma. But whether she dreaded it or not, running away from it wasn't going to do either of them any good. It would just leave them wondering what might have happened, thus setting them back for a long time; and besides, he couldn't keep running away from Tenma for the rest of his life. At some point he'd have to see her again and find out how he felt about her, and he might as well get it over with sooner than later. _Me too…if I'm about to have my heart broken either way I might as well have it now rather than ten years down the road._ Steeling her heart, she pulled out her cell phone and tried calling him; but as expected, there was no answer. Then she started trying to figure out where he might be; it had to be somewhere close by, he couldn't have gone very far on foot. As she raked her brains trying to guess his whereabouts, she suddenly remembered what he had told her on their date before Christmas, when he had taken her to that shrine. 'Whenever I just want to get away from everything, I always come here…', that's what he had said. And all of a sudden she knew with absolute certainty where she would find him.

"I think I know where he is," she whispered to Mikoto and Akira. "I'll go bring him here; make an excuse for me to the others, will you?" "Okay, but hurry back," Mikoto said. "There's not much time left until the ceremony." Eri nodded in agreement and took off as fast as she could.

Fortunately the shrine wasn't very far from school and she reached it quickly; and indeed there he was, sitting on top of the stone stairway again. Thinking he might run away if he saw her approach, she took a roundabout path half-hidden by the trees so that she could get to the top without being seen. As she came closer and could get a good look at him, the first thing she noticed was that he had a new pair of sunglasses on – he hadn't worn sunglasses at all this whole year. _So you're still hiding, Hige,_ she thought to herself. _Well, you can hide if you want but I won't let you run away – not this time._

Soon she made it to the top and cautiously approached him from behind; he still hadn't noticed her, lost as he was in thought. "…Graduation ceremony…" she heard him mutter under his breath. He seemed pretty down, and she couldn't help feeling sorry for him having to relive all those painful moments all over again. But she couldn't afford to go soft on him, not now; he didn't need that. What he needed was some good old-fashioned shock therapy.

"What in the world are you mumbling over there, Hige?" she asked in her most arrogant attitude, the one that was sure to rile him up. "If we don't hurry we won't make it in time for the ceremony."

Harima flinched at the sound of her voice, but he wouldn't back down so easily. "Ugh, do I really have to go to that?" he grumbled and faced away from her, sulking like a child. "I only came way over here to do some work on my manga in peace."

_Liar, you don't even have a sketchpad with you,_ thought Eri with an exasperated sigh. "Tell me, when are you going to stop being so self-centered?" she asked sharply. "It's high time you actually started giving a damn about others, don't you think? Or do you need me to remind you that there are people over there who are worried right now whether something bad has happened to you?"

"This has nothing to do with…" Harima started objecting, but Eri cut him short. "Oh really, it doesn't?" she asked angrily, and even though he wasn't looking at her he could feel her eyes burning holes in him. "You were the one who said you didn't want to make those who care about you worry; and yet the minute things get too hot for you you'll tuck tail and run without so much as an explanation, leaving everyone wondering whether you're alive or dead? Is this the kind of person you really are?"

She was right; he hated to admit it but once again she was right. This wasn't just about him anymore; it wasn't like old times when he could disappear out of everyone's lives and nobody would give it a second thought. He had made bonds with other people and his presence had an impact on their lives; and so did his absence. They had taken care of him, helped him out when he needed it, looked out for him…and it would be very poor repayment to vanish from their lives for no better reason than not having the guts to deal with his past. He had to face this head on; he owed it not only to himself but to everyone who had extended a hand to him and placed their trust in him. And more than anyone else, to Ojou…hadn't he sworn he would never disappoint her? As he felt her angry glare on his back, he realized that more than anything he was afraid of letting her down; nothing was scarier for him than this. Still pouting, he stole a guilty glance at her; then sighing irritably he got up and dusted himself off. Secretly he acknowledged he really needed the scolding she'd just given him and he was grateful to her for it, but damn it all, he still had his pride; no way in hell was he letting her see that.

"Okay, fine, I'll come to the stupid ceremony; are you happy now?" he grumbled, starting down the stairs with her. "I'd be happier if I didn't have to clean up after your mess all the time," snapped Eri, unwilling to let him off the hook just yet. "Do you think I have nothing better to do with my life than babying an immature brat like you?"

"Hey, nobody asked you to baby me; this was all your idea," he countered. "Oh, talking back now, are we? You sure got a big mouth for someone who doesn't have the guts to show up to his own graduation ceremony!" "I'm going there now, aren't I? Will you give it a rest already, or do you plan to nag me about it until hell freezes over?"

Thus arguing back and forth they returned to school again and headed to find their friends. On their way there they passed in front of Max, who stood a little apart from everyone else together with Harry McKenzie. "…I'm talking about how you abandoned everything just to let go of the hand of the woman you love…it seems you and him are very similar," Harry was saying with his usual knowing smile. "Shut your goddamned mouth, or I'll shut it for you!" barked Max angrily while staring at Eri and Harima passing by him, still engrossed in their heated argument. Neither of them noticed him; they were in their own little world…or more accurately, their own little squabble.

He followed them with his eyes as they walked past him, gazing fixedly at his old opponent's back. _Guess that's how it was meant to be, huh…You'd better watch it now, Harima…if you value your life make sure you never make her unhappy. Protect her at any cost…or I _will _kill you._

But he already knew it would never come to this. That smug bastard Harry wasn't that far wrong; Harima was indeed a lot like him. No manners, no good at saying pretty words, but for those truly important to him he would put his life on the line, just like he had done not so long ago. But even before that, back when Max had turned to him of all people to protect and save her…he knew he would come through for this. He knew Harima would keep her here, by his side…he constantly protested he didn't want to bother with her, but Max knew Eri was someone Harima would never let go of. And one of these days she'd be even more important to him than that; because despite their similarities he and Harima differed in one thing: contrary to him, once Harima realized his feelings he never ran away from them.

Meanwhile, after having passed by numerous clusters of boisterous boys and girls, the bickering couple made it to where their friends were assembled waiting for them. "Here we are, everyone; we're not too late, are we?" Eri said cheerily as if nothing was amiss at all. Harima on the other hand was all but hiding behind her, and looked ready to bolt any second now; but she would have none of that. With a don't-you-dare-run-out-on-me-now look hidden behind her bright smile she gave him a not so subtle push forward, in Tenma's direction.

"Harima-kun!" Tenma looked up at him and gave him a sweet, happy smile; one of those smiles which had always captivated him in the past. Back then he always thought that someone who could smile so sweetly at him simply had to be in love with him; but now he knew better. All of Tenma's smiles were precious, but the ones that were truly special were reserved for Karasuma alone. Perhaps it was because he knew this now, but for the first time since he had met and fallen in love with her, he looked at her and tried to find out what her smile truly meant. And it took him only a single moment to figure it out: Tenma was happy. She was happy, at peace with herself and everybody, and secure in her love; she was right where she wanted to be. And as he realized this, his heart was filled with a strange peace. No pain, no anxiety; just peace. "Tsukamoto…" he heard himself say, and was surprised at his own calmness. "…You look well."

"Thanks, you too! You haven't changed at all, I see!" Tenma said joyfully, still smiling at him. _Oh, but I have, Tenma-chan…more than you or even I know…_he thought, but before he could say anything else Tenma was already dragging him towards the wheelchair. "Come on, I'm sure Karasuma-kun will be overjoyed to see you again! You were such good friends, he'll definitely remember you!"

_Well, at least one thing hasn't changed; it's still all about Karasuma with her. _A year ago such a realization would have made him insanely angry and jealous at first, and then he'd feel so helpless and depressed…But now, although he understood he was supposed to have those feelings, try as he might he couldn't find them inside him.

Obediently he followed her to Karasuma's wheelchair and looked down at him. He really was just the same as before; slender body tucked inside a perfectly neat uniform, pale face, and those enormous, unfathomable black eyes. A guy who had next to nothing in common with him, someone Harima half the time had no idea what he was thinking; and yet somehow they actually had become friends, even with their rivalry over Tenma getting in the way. If nothing else, they'd had some mighty intense scenes together, Harima thought; and he wondered whether any of this remained intact in Karasuma's mind. "Yo, Karasuma," he said, trying to sound like his usual self. "Remember me?"

"Yes, of course," Karasuma said immediately. "Nice to see you again…Imadori-kun."

Harima, along with everyone else, gaped at him in astonishment; out of all the guys in class, Imadori was arguably the one least resembling him. "I-Imadori?!" he exclaimed, dumbfounded. "What part of me looks like a blond boob maniac? Don't you at least know a delinquent when you see one?"

"Oh, you're right," Karasuma said in mild surprise, as if he'd only just realized he was looking at a delinquent. "I beg your pardon…Yoshidayama-kun."

"…You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" "No he's not, Harima-kun! Such a mean thing to say!" Tenma cut in immediately, ever ready to defend her beloved. Harima glanced down for a few seconds, unsure whether he should feel nostalgic or ridiculous; with or without memories, Karasuma was still Karasuma after all. "It's okay, Tsukamoto, I'm not mad or anything," he told Tenma. "I'm sure it'll all come back to him soon enough."

For a few moments everyone was silent; it was Sarah who spoke first, looking at her watch. "Yakumo, we should go inside; you don't want to be late for your speech now!" she said. Yakumo seemed troubled to be reminded of her speech again, but she nodded in agreement and after bidding everyone farewell she headed for the gymnasium, together with Sarah and Hirayama-kun.

"Is Yakumo going to be okay, I wonder?" asked Mikoto with concern as soon as they had left. "She seemed rather nervous just now…and she's not used to speaking in public as it is."

"Yes, I'm afraid she might not be able to keep her composure to the very end," Akira said. "But, not to worry…Tenma and I have arranged a little backup for her, haven't we, Tenma?"

"Heh heh, we did! I'll be backstage and wait for the right moment and then…you'll see!" she said mysteriously to her confounded friends. "Oh, but first we need to find a good spot for Karasuma-kun's wheelchair," she added, turning to Akira. "Will it be all right to have him in the gymnasium with everyone, you think?"

"I think that's fine, but wouldn't it be too crowded with all the other students?" Akira said. "He should be better off at the side entrance of the stage, where he can have a clear view…but we can't leave him there on his own for so long. Someone will have to take him up there and stay with him until Tenma comes back."

"I'll do it," Harima suddenly said decisively. "It's tough work to push that wheelchair all the way up to the stage, so it's probably best to leave it to me." Eri gave him an inquisitive look, but she didn't say anything. "Thank you, Harima-kun," Tenma said gratefully. "Then, us three will head for the stage now; you guys are going to the gymnasium, right?"

"Yes," replied Akira. "We'll meet outside again after the ceremony is over." The three girls turned around and headed for the gymnasium as well while Tenma and Harima set off for the stage, the latter pushing Karasuma's wheelchair in front of him.

"You know, Harima-kun," Tenma started saying a few moments after they had started walking, "I never got the chance to thank you properly, so please allow me to do so now." Harima turned to look at her, quite surprised; he had never seen her so serious before. Staring up at him with earnest eyes, Tenma went on, "The happiness I have right now…I owe it all to you. You forced me to follow my heart when I didn't have the confidence to do so on my own…when I couldn't bring myself to make the right choice you helped me make it. If I'm living a worthwhile life now it is all because of you…and for that I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Harima stared back at her, too moved for words; knowing he had been so instrumental to her happiness made him, too, genuinely happy. Then he stole a glance at Karasuma in front of him, wondering if he understood what Tenma had just said. His memories were still jumbled but he wasn't deaf or retarded; what might he be thinking after hearing Tenma say all this? Surprisingly enough, Tenma must have guessed his thoughts correctly for once because she added, "I've already told Karasuma-kun what you did for both of us…I don't know if he understood me but I told him anyway. I'm sure that when he's himself again he'll want to thank you as well…but for now, let me do it on behalf of us both. I believe I'm speaking for him too when I say that, no matter what happens, neither of us will ever forget what we owe you."

"You don't owe me anything, Tsukamoto," Harima said just as seriously. "I'll accept your thanks…but everything I did was to see you happy, so your happiness is all the repayment I'll ever need. If you want to do something for me in return, just keep being happy; that's all I could ask for." As he was saying this, suddenly he became aware that all this time he was in love with her, he had never felt as content as he did now. Gone was the anguish whether she would love him back or not; he could just walk beside her, know that she was happy and be happy for her in turn, without fretting whether her next word or gesture would crush his heart. He had always imagined that seeing Tenma at another man's side would destroy him; and yet now, as he saw her so radiant and joyful he just couldn't bring himself to be sad about it.

When they made it backstage the students were already assembled in the gymnasium and Hanai was on the podium, overseeing the ceremony together with Tougou as a matter of course (even the teachers had allowed them to take over for once). "Yakumo's speech should start any minute now, so I'd better head backstage," Tenma said as soon as they had set the wheelchair on the side entrance of the stage. "Are you two going to be all right here?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine; you just hurry up and get over there," Harima shooed her away. Giving Karasuma a last smile Tenma hastily turned and left, leaving the two boys on their own.

"…Next, we have a farewell speech to the graduates from second year, class D, Tsukamoto Yakumo-kun!" stated Hanai and retreated, leaving the podium to Yakumo. As he stepped down, Harima noticed his expression was the same as always, even though he had to be suffering inside. _This guy really is tougher than me,_ he thought. _Having his heart broken and still bearing to see her every day…I don't think I could have done that._ In the past he had run away for a lot more insignificant reasons, although he knew that running away didn't solve anything; and he probably would've done the same if Tenma hadn't been the one who left instead. But Hanai had the strength to deal with his pain without running away from it…he only hoped that one day he could be as strong as him.

Then his attention was caught by Yakumo who stepped up on the podium with her speech in hand. He knew she had put a lot of work into it; he had seen her write and rewrite it many times over at home, and it was obvious how important it was to her to get her feelings across with it. Yakumo approached the microphone, unfolded the sheets of paper she was holding and started speaking.

"To all the graduates, congratulations on your achievement. On this warm spring day, I believe those who leave here will experience both feelings of happiness and sadness."

"Senpais, you have taught us many things. Not only about academics, but how to live our lives with strength and happiness. We, who are young and full of insecurities, learned a lot from you."

"For example, you taught us to be considerate to our friends, and to seek out those virtues we should love them for. It might be a spontaneous smile, or a funny moment…all the little things that bind us together. If we keep those moments in mind, it doesn't matter how many times we'll get angry or cry."

"Because when those unhappy times pass we will stand up stronger, and this strength will give us faith in ourselves. And this faith will empower our words and actions while we pursue our dreams, and it will be our weapon which will destroy every obstacle that gets in our way. For in the end, a pure and strong heart is the most unstoppable weapon."

Yakumo's voice was faltering now as all the memories of those last two years came to flood her mind. When she started high school she considered herself the loneliest person on earth. She felt she couldn't connect with anyone, except possibly her sister, but even Tenma could not always reach out to her. But during those two years she had met and connected with so many wonderful people who had pulled her out of her loneliness. Takano-senpai, who always looked out for her; Suou-senpai, with her friendly smile; Sawachika-senpai, her once-rival, who had a warm, honest heart hidden behind her pride; Hanai-senpai, with his oppressive but honest love for her. And then, Satsuki, Miki and Haruna, who had wholeheartedly offered her their friendship; Sarah, her first and best girlfriend and the kindest person she had ever known; Harima, her big brother in all but name, the one who had shown her that it wasn't impossible for her to have relationships and even fall in love with men; Hirayama-kun who understood her better than anyone. So many people she cared about and respected, who had made her into the person she was today…and soon she'd have to leave most of them behind. She wanted to convey her gratitude to them with this speech, but just like she expected, saying goodbye was really, really hard…Feeling the tears already welling up inside her, she rallied all her strength so that she could at least finish her speech.

"…Senpais…senpais, for all…that you've showed me…I…w-we…we are p-proud…of all…t-those days that…we shared…shared with y…I'm so sorry!" There was no stopping the tears now; Yakumo dropped her sheets and hid her face in her hands, as her sobs echoed throughout the hall. Most of the students were looking at each other awkwardly, while her friends stared at her with concern; but before anyone could react, a familiar short figure jumped forward.

"Formal response from the representative of the graduates, Tsukamoto Tenma!" The clear, confident voice resounded all over the gymnasium as Tenma grabbed the microphone and patted the sobbing Yakumo on the back. Her sister raised teary eyes up at her, astonished by this unexpected intervention. "Good job, Yakumo…I'll take it from here," Tenma whispered to her with an affectionate smile and stepped on the podium.

As she started addressing the students in turn, Harima leaned on the back of Karasuma's wheelchair and watched her with a rarely seen complacent smile on his face. "Look closely at the stage, Karasuma," he told the other boy who sat rigidly in his chair, his eyes fixed on the podium. "There she is – the girl both you and I loved. Great girl, isn't she?"

And as he said those words he understood what he truly meant by them. Yes…'loved'. Past tense – at least for him. Tenma would always be someone with a special place in his heart – someone he cared a lot about, a great friend, a person who had fundamentally changed his life for the better – but no longer someone he was in love with. Now that he saw her again he finally realized that all the changes he had been through this past year culminated to this conclusion: He had gotten over her. The shackles had fallen – he was finally free.

He moved to the side of the wheelchair and squatted down so he could be at eye level with Karasuma who was still gazing at Tenma on the stage. "I gave her up, you know," he said quietly to him. "It damn near killed me, but I gave her up. Not because you're my friend, but because you're the only one who can make her happy. No matter how hard I tried, I could never make her smile the way you did without even trying. You're the only one she will cry for, the only one her heart will flutter for and the only one who can put that smile on her face. So you'd better not keep her waiting for long now, you hear me? Hurry up and snap out of it so that you can make her happy as she deserves. You've made her cry plenty already, and the only reason I'm willing to overlook this is because I know she's already forgiven you for it. But from now on – no more excuses. You're going to make her the happiest woman in the world – I will not settle for anything less."

Karasuma tore his eyes away from the stage and turned to look at him. The huge black eyes locked with his own for several seconds, and although his expression didn't change, at that moment Harima could swear there was a glimmer of understanding in them. And then he nodded – just once. He did not utter a single word, but for Harima that nod alone was enough. Just by seeing it he knew he had been heard and understood; he knew beyond any doubt that even if Karasuma hadn't understood anything else today, at least his words just now had definitely got through to him.

Shortly afterwards Tenma's speech ended and she returned to find them; and Harima went down to the gymnasium to receive his high school diploma along with everyone else. When the ceremony ended a while later they all gathered again in the courtyard and lingered there for a while, chatting about everyone's plans for the future. Yakumo was still a bit teary, but thankfully a lot calmer; the rest on the whole were happy, albeit also a bit sad to say farewell to their high school life.

"Well, it's time for us to get back to the hotel," Tenma said eventually. "Karasuma-kun's not used to being up and about for so long yet, I should get him to rest soon. Yakumo, I'll call you later to set a time to go sign those papers you'll need; but first I'll need to find someone to stay with Karasuma-kun while I'm gone."

"I can do that, Tsukamoto nee-sama," Hirayama-kun said eagerly. "I've been looking forward to spending some time with Ooji-san anyway." "Great, thank you, Hirayama-kun," said Tenma. "Then I'll give you two a call to tell you when to meet me. I wish I could spend more time with you three too," she added with a sigh, turning to her friends. "I'm going to be pretty busy while I'm here, but if I manage to get some free time I'll be sure to let you know."

"It's okay, Tenma, we understand," replied Mikoto, embracing her warmly. "It'll be good if we can see you again, but even if we can't we'll keep in touch anyway." Eri and Akira nodded and hugged their friend as well, then Eri asked, "Oh, speaking of which, how are you going to get back to the hotel? I could ask Nakamura to give you a lift if you want."

"Thanks, Eri-chan, but I've called a taxi already," Tenma said with a smile. "I've told them to wait at the school gates; it should have arrived by now, so we'd better get going." All of them accompanied her and Karasuma-kun to the school gates, where indeed a taxi was already waiting. With some surprise they watched Tenma help Karasuma-kun out of his wheelchair and into the taxi with professional efficiency, and even fold the wheelchair and put it in the trunk with quick, accurate moves; for the hopelessly clumsy Tenma they knew and loved, this was quite an unexpected sight to behold. More than anything else, it made them realize that during this past year Tenma had changed a lot as well; her love for Karasuma-kun had made her, too, a better person.

As the taxi vanished in the distance Eri turned to take a close look at Harima for the first time since she had forced him to come here and confront his past. He seemed…rather calm and relieved, she thought, as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. When the taxi was no longer in sight, he took his sunglasses off and turned to look at her as well. He didn't have to say anything. His eyes said it all.

"Aren't you going to wear them anymore?" she asked nervously, pointing at the sunglasses in his hands. He glanced at them for a second, then looked back at her again. "No need," he said steadily, putting them in his uniform pocket. Then he stared at the road whence the taxi had left and added with an air of calm certainty, "Today was the last time…Next time we meet, I won't be wearing them."


End file.
